Castlevania: Rebirth of Sorrow
by LordAce1213 aka Blitz9684
Summary: Years have past since Soma defeated Celia's cult, now he has everything he could ask for; A chill life, and a happy family! What happens as his daughter inherits the powers he thought long lost? And her ally is Death? Rating changed cuz it's not that bad
1. Chapter 1

**CASTLEVANIA: Rebirth of Sorrow**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Castlevania, if I did I'd be animating this.

Soma: For some reason...I'm glad about that

Blitz9684: See this is why you're not the main character in this story, you're a hater.

Soma: ...Let's just move on already...

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Soma Cruz was at his wits-end, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He walked into the offending room in his home to find his daughter, Laura Cruz, sitting at her desk playing yet ANOTHER RPG. Soma sighed to himself; he had fought through Castlevania twice, almost became the dark lord each time, and even still managed to score the girl of his dreams (Mina...obviously) to build a family. But now he was facing his hardest challenge yet; raising his daughter. Now for the most part, this wasn't too hard. Laura was a nice girl who didn't cause too much trouble for her parents, but she had this problem.

"Laura...do you remember what we talked about the other day?" Soma asked, feeling his hair turn even grayer than normal.

"Hmm...nope!" She replied, turning back to her computer. Now before we go any further we need to talk about Laura Cruz. She is quite the good looking girl. Her short silver hair was shiny and her blue eyes were as clear as the sky. She had an average figure and she always tried to make sure she was in shape. She had even been asked out on several dates once she got into college (All of whom were turned down by the almost dark lord, Soma). But the thing about Laura was that she absolutely LOVED video games. Like, hardcore gamer level. She knew all the tricks and even knew the storylines of games that had yet to be released. Now this wouldn't be such a problem if she didn't play them constantly...at 3 in the morning. The fact that her room was practically spilling with strategy guides, expansion packs, and other gaming tools didn't help. This brings us to the current situation. While Soma didn't really see a problem, Mina found this to be a major issue. Now back to the story.

"I'll remind you." Soma sighed as he pressed a few keys on the computer. Luckily for Laura, Soma knew not to just close the window; he took the courtesy to save the game first.

"H-hey! I was on a roll there! Just a bit more and I could've beaten-" Laura protested, but Soma had stopped listening for a bit. He'd heard it all: "That was a major boss!", "But the story was just getting good!", "I just wanted to level up a bit more!" yadda yadda yadda.

"-And then I would've unlocked the alternate ending!" Soma just stared at his daughter.

"You done yet?"

"For now anyway."

"Good, now listen. Me and your mother have no problem with you taking a semester off from school, lord knows me and your mother took time off to travel." Soma began.

"What's your point?"

"That IS the point! We actually DID something! You however just sit here and play games all day and night! And speaking of which, it's 3 A.M., and just because you have the luxury of sleeping in doesn't mean everyone else does. I still have work. Y'know what? That's it! Tomorrow, you're going to take your behind out and find a job!" Soma monolouged, not noticing that Laura just took out her PSP and started playing Persona 3 Portable.

"Damn Reaper..." She muttered, not noticing the glare on her father's face. She did, however, notice the PSP being snatched from her hands.

"Tomorrow. Job. Bed. Now." Soma stated before heading back to his own room. Laura pouted before finally giving in to the gods of sleep.

The next day Laura intended to sit in front of her computer and watch random animes all day, but Soma would have none of that. It seemed he hadn't forgotten last night's discussion.

"The mall's that way, make sure you look for any 'Now Hiring' signs!" He said, smiling so sadistically his dark lord half would've shit himself. And so Laura dragged her feet to the mall, normally she enjoyed it, but today she felt like she was marching off to her own execution.

"Man, I just wanted to relax a bit before going back to school, why'd daddy have to go and ruin my fun?" She said to herself after being rejected from nearly every store she went too. She heard all of the excuses too. "We're not hiring right now.", "This is a family owned business.", "Hell no." etc etc. So she decided that she would just go home and tell her dad that she tried but no one was hiring. She had barely gotten outside when she saw the strangest thing. There was a skeleton walking around on it's own, scaring the hell out of anyone that came near it.

"Umm...maybe I'll go look again..." Laura said to herself as she inched back, only to be seen by the monster. Now here's what happened in order; Laura forgot she could lose the thing in the mall so she instead ran towards home with the skeleton hot on her trail. The people around her saw this and instead of calling 911, they instead called their children inside and locked their doors, leaving poor Laura to deal with the creature. Now she saw this and cursed out the neighborhood so loudly that the skeleton stopped and backed up a bit out of pure shock at the pretty girl's potty mouth. Laura then took this opportunity to pick up a baseball bat one kid left behind and well...let's just say Babe Ruth would be proud.

The skull went flying pretty far, and when it finally landed it just happened to be by the feet of a sharp dressed man by the name of Genya Arikado.

Meanwhile the rest of the skeleton fell to pieces and a red light emerged from it, circling Laura then finally entering her body.

"What the hell was that?" Laura asked herself before turning her attention to the fallen skeleton.

"This is all YOUR fault!" She yelled, pointing her finger at it in true Phoenix Wright fashion. At that moment a bone flew from her arm's direction. She looked at her arm and checked to see if it was one of HER bones, luckily it wasn't. But she still pointed at the bone in bewilderment when it happened again. She thought for a moment and, coming to the conclusion that she was cursed or something, ran off with her arms flailing. If one were to look out their window at this time they would see a very interesting sight. A silver haired girl screaming 'Daddy!' while flailing her arms, from which bones were flying everywhere. This strange, if not comedic, event was further enhanced by the fact that every neighborhood dog that wasn't on a leash was following this girl as if she was the answer to every dog's prayer. No one took time to notice Mr. Arikado watching very carefully from a distance before following in his car. (Hey, Arikado's got swag too.)

* * *

><p>Blitz9684: There we have it, chapter 1 of what I hope will be a pretty enjoyable read for everyone.<p>

Soma: ...Oh God, I REALLY hope I have a son...wait...why is Arikado stalking my daughter?

Blitz9684: Patience my friend. On a side note I'm gonna upload a few one shots of what happens when Laura and her yet-to-be-named companion discover some of the effects of the souls she absorbs as well as some genuine adventure mishaps. All courtesy of this! **Holds up a copy of 'Soma Cruz's guide to souls, the dummies edition!'**

Soma: ...screw a son, I'm wearing rubbers from now on. And where did you get that?

Blitz9684: R&R if you would be so kind. Or poor Soma will cry again.

Soma: When did I cry?


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** Laura: Blitz doesn't own castlevania or it's characters...which sucks for me

to be honest.

Blitz: Don't worry, you get a new friend this chapter, as for everyone else; Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Death can be so nice

"Mommy! Daddy!" Laura cried as she ran into her house, sweating bullets.

"Laura? What happened, sweetheart?" A very worried Mina asked, hugging her daughter. Soma looked out of the living room window to try and find the source of his daughter's distress. What he saw was probably the most confusing thing he had ever seen, and considering the fact that this is Soma Cruz we're talking about, that's saying something. Outside were about 20 or so dogs chewing on a trail of bones that leads to his front doorstep, and behind this scene was a black Mustang with a very familiar man sitting in the front seat.

"Aw, crap...Mina! It's Arikado, do we have any aspirin?" He shouted, despite the fact that Mina and Laura were in the same room. Mina sighed and went to go prepare for what she was sure to be a LONG couple of hours. Laura, still shocked by the earlier experience, was hugging herself on the couch muttering to herself, what she was muttering? Who knows.

Soma gathered up his courage and opened the front door to reveal Genya Arikado and his usual 'I'm here for a reason that concerns the fate of the world' face.

"Arikado! How've you been? What brings you here?" He asked the stern agent who simply stared at him in return.

"Why do you not seem as happy as your words, Soma?" He asked in a monotonous voice.

Soma's face changed from 'I'm seeing an old friend' to 'Oh God, it's you' in less than two seconds.

"Well it's nothing personal against you but, every time I see you something bad happens...usually to me."

"Explain."

"Seriously? Dude, when we first met we were trapped in a solar eclipse and I almost became the dark lord! The second time me and Mina were minding our own business when some crazy cult lady attacks us, and who shows up to do nothing than give me a knife to fight a skeleton, a armor knight, and worst of all a GOLEM? You, my man. And lastly at me and Mina's wedding Hammer didn't get totally wasted until YOU showed up and started talking to Yoko about who cares what? He damn near threw up on all the gifts!" Soma ranted while Arikado just stood there deep in thought.

"Who was Hammer again?" He asked, causing Soma to spaz out even more. If he hadn't been on the verge of tears Soma would have seen Arikado smirk to himself.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Mina asked, handing Soma a cup of water and some pills, which he happily downed.

A few minutes later the four were situated in the family room, Soma sitting across from Arikado, with Mina and Laura sitting next to him on the couch.

"I'll make this brief: I need the girl to come with me to headquarters." Arikado stated, looking directly at Laura. Soma winced before speaking.

"Care to tell us what for?" He asked. Arikado pointed outside, where a dog catcher was desperately trying to round up the dogs that had followed Laura home.

"Oh-kay, well that is odd, but how about telling us what's going on?" Soma asked again.

"I'd love to but it's classified, I can't really talk about it outside of headquarters." That's when Mina got up and got her purse and glared at Arikado for some reason.

"Then we'll just go with you two then!" Soma looked at his wife and felt a sense of foreboding. He then looked towards his daughter, who barely seemed like she was listening.

"My family is so messed up." he sighed to himself before following suit to get ready. Laura went upstairs as well to go get her PSP, she could tell she was going to need a distraction. Arikado remained downstairs, still frozen from Mina's glare.

"...I really hope the daughter doesn't get like that when she gets to be that age." He sighed to himself.

So after three hours in the family van following Arikado's car, the Cruz family finally reached the building where Arikado's agency was based.

"Laura, wake up." Soma stated, poking his daughter's face, who just muttered something about burgers before waking up and dragging herself out of the car. Once inside they headed up an elevator to the 13th floor, where a door reading "Genya Arikado, chief of investigations" waited for them. Once inside Arikado pointed to a few chairs in front of his desk. Arikado's office was nice to say the least if not too much on the gothic side. Victorian era furniture was everywhere, even his computer had a medieval feel to it for some reason, probably due to the ornate paint job it had on it and the fact that it used pristina font instead of times new roman. Once everyone was seated Arikado began to speak.

"Before I go into details, there is someone I'd like you to meet." He stated before dialing his receptionist.

"Could you call Andrew to my office? Thank you." After he hung up a announcement was made over the loudspeaker.

"Andrew Arikado to the chief investigator's office, I repeat, Andrew Arikado to the chief investigator's office!" Soma's eyes widened.

"BULLSHIT!" He shouted, after which Mina elbowed him in the gut.

"Soma! That's rude, Arikado I'm so happy for you! I didn't know you were married, and you had a son no less! Why didn't you tell anyone?" Laura wasn't paying attention, she was too busy watching some random video on her PSP.

"Well you see-" Arikado began to speak but was interrupted by his office door opening.

"You called for me?" A young man asked before entering the room.

Mina took one look and shouted.

"BULLSHIT!" Then she covered her mouth out of embarassment. Soma patted her head jokingly.

"Mina, that's rude!" He said playfully. But she had every reason to shout, this guy looked nothing like Arikado. The young man had black hair that, unlike his father's, was a bit more wild, tied into a ponytail. He had dark skin and dark blue eyes, and while he was just as handsome as his father, their facial features were completely different. Not to mention this young man looked more lively than Arikado.

"I was going to say he's adopted but I suppose that much is obvious." Arikado put bluntly, pinching the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. Andrew just laughed as he walked towards the group. Soma felt a chill run down his spine for some reason, the weird thing is that so did Laura. She looked up immediately at Andrew with a interesting glare.

"Arikado...I know I lost my powers a while ago but...what's this aura I'm sensing?" Soma asked his old friend, who merely chuckled in response.

"It's simple really, just as you were once the reincarnation of Dracula, he is the reincarnation of Death, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say his soul was infused with the soul of Death when he was younger."

(Death...?) Laura thought to herself as she stared at Andrew, who merely smiled at her in return.

* * *

><p>Blitz: And there we have it, Chapter 2 reveals a new character and some more plot development.<p>

Andrew: How do I advance the plot, exactly?

Blitz: Well you'll just need to wait until chapter 3 like everyone else.

Andrew: Uh, okay man, whatever you say.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Andrew: ...Not doing it, nope.

Blitz: Read it or I promise you bad things WILL happen to you later on.

Andrew: Yeah right, just how much can you hurt me before you start hurting the story?

Blitz: Well not here, but the one shot series "Soul guide for dummies" is where you'll get hurt.

Andrew: (Deep in thought)...oh crap...uhh, Blitz doesn't own anything castlevania related except for the games sitting in his room.

Blitz: That's what I thought.

Chapter 3: This again, really?

"Death? But how is that possible?" Soma asked Andrew, who shrugged in response.

"I'm just as curious as you are actually, he never told me the details."

"Then I guess it's time I explained then." Arikado began, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Andrew was born on December 13th some years ago, specifically on a Friday. Now while most people would view this as a coincidence, but in truth those born on a Friday the 13th have dormant supernatural abilities. These abilities are not easily awakened, it takes an outside force to make these abilities manifest within their host." Everyone followed along in silence, especially Andrew; whom was hearing all of this for the very first time. Before he had just known that he had some powers that set him apart from everyone else.

"In Andrew's case, he came into contact with a fortune teller in his youth, when the fortune teller asked him to pick a card from his Tarot deck, Andrew just so happened to pull the 13th arcana 'Death'. These cards were infused with some of Dracula's power, as they were hidden relics form none other than Castlevania. Had he picked any other card, nothing would have happened, and Andrew would have led a normal life. When this happened I felt a surge of energy coming from a orphanage, where Andrew lived. Therefore I pulled some strings and that unfortunate orphan became my adoptive son." Arikado explained, looking at Andrew.

"I'm sorry you have to undergo such a fate." He added.

"No biggie, it's actually kind of cool if you ask me." Andrew replied, shrugging as if he hadn't heard anything.

(This guy must be insane, how can something like that not bother him?) Mina thought to herself as she looked at him. Hearing that made her think of Soma, because he shared a similar fate, but Soma cursed the fact that he was supposedly the next dark lord, so Andrew's carefree reaction came as a bit of a shock.

"Okay, speaking of ill-fated children, we now come to the subject of your daughter, miss Laura Cruz." Arikado said, looking directly into Laura's eyes.

"W-wait! Me too?" She stammered.

"Correct, you see; your father was the reincarnation of Dracula, as I'm sure you're already aware of-"

"Nope! That's news to me!" Laura chirped up, causing Arikado to glare at Soma, who merely laughed and scratched his head.

"...Soma I swear to God...err...*Ahem!*"' Arikado scowled, very out of character like for him.

"Well here's the short version for you; Your dad was Dracula incarnate. But, luckily for him, he bested the dark power overcoming him and escaped becoming the new dark lord. His power was simple; kill a monster, take it's power. Make sense so far?" Andrew explained to Laura, while Arikado was still glaring daggers at Soma, who was trying to explain the concept of 'why the hell would I tell my daughter this stuff anyway?' Laura nodded so Andrew continued.

"Now according to the report I got earlier, you killed a skeleton and now you're suddenly throwing bones from your sleeves right?" Another nod, then Laura looked at her sleeves and realized she was wearing a black tank-top, then glared at Andrew.

"I'm not WEARING sleeves!"

"Ha ha! I'm just messing with you, anyway; you have somehow inherited the power of dominance, the power I just explained to you, and for some reason the dungeon of legend has appeared. Castlevania has risen, and we don't know why, but we're assuming it has something to do with you." Andrew continued, actually poking Laura's nose as he said it. Bad move on his part. The next moments had Arikado wondering 'what is wrong with these children?' Andrew was hiding behind a conveniently placed vending machine while Laura was mastering the skeleton soul through practice, specifically in Andrew's direction.

"H-hey! Those actually hurt, you know?"

"Serves you right! Die!"

"C'mon, I was just being friendly! Trying to brighten the mood...Ow!"

"That was a little TOO friendly! Are you some kind of pervert?"

"Andrew Arikado is NO pervert! I- OW! Don't be so uptight!"

"Pervy Reaper!"

"I am not! Okay, I'm sorry!"

The adults in the room were looking at their children with a sense of disappointment, then at each other with that 'he/she's not normally like this' look. This was true actually, neither young adult was normally this foolish. A long 20 minutes later and everyone was back on the main topic, except for Laura and Andrew, who had to clean up all the bones Laura threw.

"As Andrew stated earlier, Castlevania has risen again. But our biggest question is why. The castle that was traversed in 2036 was merely a replica, but this one is a genuine castle of the dark lord, and there is a problem."

"Oh man, here it comes..." Soma braced himself for what he was sure to be bad news.

"We will be needing the power of your daughter." Arikado stated bluntly.

"Well-" he was going to continue but Mina stopped him.

"Nope, hell no, you are not sending my daughter in there ALONE with who knows what to fight I don't care. Not happening pretty boy." She stated, smiling sadistically, which made Arikado and Soma rethink who wore the pants in this relationship.

"Well, she wouldn't be alone...and we won't be sending her into action, we just need her to break the seal so an elite team can enter." Arikado said quickly. Soma nodded in agreement then covered his wife's mouth.

"So who will be on this team?"

"Myself, Andrew, Yoko, and Julius' granddaughter. Though she will be joining at a later date, as she is currently at an academy far from here."

"Julius has a graddaughter?" Soma asked.

"Yup! A girl by the name of...Kokoro? I haven't met her myself, but word on the street is she's a real cutie...Ow!" Andrew stated happily before Laura smacked him in the head with a bone she picked up.

"Andrew, when did you get so...distasteful?" Arikado inquired.

"Oh, I'm not like that actually, I was just messing with little miss uptight again Ow!" Again with the bone.

"Moving on, Laura's presence is needed at the castle gate is needed to enter, afterwards she will be escorted back to your home with a security team. Does that work?" Arikado asked the couple, but was really looking at Mina.

"I guess that's fine, but if she gets hurt at all I will rip your hair out and hang you with it." Mina scowled in response, then she looked over at Soma.

"And as for you, mister, you're already in trouble. Can you guess what's for dinner tonight?" She asked, leaving Soma cowering in his seat.

"N-not the tuna...please Mina, this isn't my idea!" He cried to himself.

"Too late, and you'll have to deal with Laura too, I know she doesn't like it either."

"Why am I being punished?" Laura shouted, ignoring the snickering Andrew.

"Do you see Mr. Arikado's office? I didn't make this mess, so Tuna it is for dinner!" And with that Mina stood up and dragged Soma and Laura out of the office.

"Mina, wait." Arikado shouted.

"Yes?"

"Save a plate for Andrew, if you would be so kind?" He asked, which had Andrew stand up in surprise.

"I'm allergic to seafood!"

"I don't care."

* * *

><p>Blitz: That's it for this chapter, Andrew will be getting his due punishment in a one-shot sometime in the future.<p>

Andrew: Dude, I really am allergic.

Blitz: Shouldn't have mouthed off earlier should you?

Andrew: (sigh) on a side note, Blitz was also born on Friday the thirteenth, pretty cool huh?

Blitz: I think it is at least, anyways. Read and Review!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I wish I was making money off of this, but I'm not.

Chapter 4: To great x20 Grandaddy's house we go!

"Are we there yet?" Laura asked.

"No." Andrew replied.

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"Can't you take a nap?" Laura and Andrew's banter back and forth in the Cruz family van was driving everyone up the wall, especially Yoko Belnades.

"I will snatch those precious Mp3 player's of yours and beat you each with them if you both don't shut up!" She shouted, both children sinking into their seats. Normally Soma would not tolerate threats against his daughter, but he'd make an exception in this case.

"Thank you." Arikado said in the seat next to Yoko, who nodded in response.

"I"m beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea to put them in the back together." Soma thought out loud.

"No it was NOT!" The two teenage voices shouted from behind.

(This has been a painful half an hour.) Arikado thought to himself before returning to his detailed report on the situation.

A few hours and mishaps later, the group arrived at Castlevania. As Arikado had mentioned, there was a seal there that prevented entry, and required the power of the next dark lord to open.

"So this is it, huh? Time for some real action!" Andrew said confidently. He was dressed for battle, he wore a black jacket with many pockets with a purple thermal shirt underneath. His blue jeans, despite not looking particularly battle-oriented, seemed to fit so that movement was easy for the Death child, with black combat boots to finish it off. He also carried his weapon of choice, because he was the reincarnation of Death, he decided that a scythe was the way to go. He apparently was quite good with it.

"You have fun with that, don't come back too soon!" Laura said cheerfully as she exited the vehicle. Her outfit wasn't nearly as practical as Andrew's. She wore what most college age girls would wear in the spring time, a white blouse with black sleeves and a blue skirt. Her black stockings were complemented by white uggs, she actually looked kind of cute in that outfit is what Andrew would have thought if he wasn't so preoccupied with his mission.

Arikado wore his usual suit and Yoko was in her normal clothing as well, Soma traded in his battle clothes for a hoodie and jeans, there was no way in hell he would be going in there again.

"Okay, in order to break the seal on the entrance we need you to simply go up to the door and touch it. Then you can go, understood?" Arikado explained to Laura, who nodded in response. Laura walked towards the door with Andrew standing beside her for protection.

"Okay, just touch it like this...what?" When Laura touched the door leading inside something strange happened. She, Andrew, and the entire castle were enveloped in a purple light, then the castle began to fade along with the two.

"Dammit! Come on!" Arikado shouted as Soma and Yoko ran beside him to pull the two away, but once the three got to the gate both Laura and Andrew had completely faded along with the castle.

"LAURA!" Soma shouted before collapsing to the ground.

"Mngh...what happened?" A very dazed Laura asked, trying to get up.

"We got zapped along with the castle to...well, maybe you should see for yourself." He said, pointing towards the direction they came in, but instead of a drawbridge, there was a balcony. Laura gulped, then edged herself over and took a look. She saw stars, and a blue sphere that looked very familiar.

"WE'RE ON THE MOON?" She shouted, before falling to her knees.

"It would seem so, take a deep breath and calm down okay?" Andrew tried to comfort her, kneeling down beside her and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"How am I supposed to calm down? You may be ready for battle, but I'm gonna die in here!"

"Actually you'll become the dark...never mind, just hear me out for a second." Andrew said, holding her tight. Laura stared at him, still crying a little but quiet.

"I'll look after you alright? I'm trained specifically for situations like this, not to mention you're not completely helpless. You have the power of dominance, remember? I'll teach you a few combat basics, and I'll watch your back in battle. Does that sound good?" Andrew explained, making that 'please just go with it because I'm winging it right now' face.

"And if I just stay out here?"

"While I could go in there alone and survive...this doesn't look like the safest area, you won't make it alone. And if you do come with me I would have a hard time protecting you and focusing on the enemy at the same time, and I'd probably get killed...then you would get killed." Andrew stated as bluntly as he could, hopefully sounding like his adoptive father. Laura just stared at him, ready to burst into tears again.

"But we can do this, I just need your help...can you trust me?" He added, holding out his hand. Laura once again stared at him, but this time nodded and took his hand in both of hers.

"Y-yeah, I'll help you..."

"Great, I'm glad." The two sat there for a second before Laura started cryin again.

"Oh who am I kidding? I don't know how to fight...I mean I'll help but...what can I do besides cry in the corner?" Laura immediately went back to crying, Andrew sighed and went through his supplies bag.

"I brought along a few things that could help, here." He handed her a small rapier.

"You can use that to defend yourself if you need too, also take this." He took off his battle jacket and gave it to Laura.

"It'll provide some defense...don't worry about me, I'm wearing armor under my thermal." Andrew explained, rolling up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal scale mail.

"Um, thank you...but I've never fought anyone before..." Laura said quietly, she was clearly distressed.

"What? That beatdown you gave me earlier doesn't count? You can be pretty vicious when you want to." Andrew teased, which Laura gave a light-hearted chuckle to.

"But still, I'm not going to be much use, I barely know how to use this thing. And I don't think throwing bones at the enemy will be very effective..."

"Okay true...here. I'll train you before we go inside, like I said earlier; just the basics." Andrew offered. Laura stared at him then at the weapon in her hand. She gripped the hilt of her rapier and nodded.

* * *

><p>Blitz: Chapter 4 is done, and we're finally in the castle!<p>

Laura: Well more like outside of the castle.

Andrew: And we still have no idea what's going on! We just got zapped onto the moon here.

Laura: Yeah! What the heck? How are we even breathing?

Blitz: I swear if you two don't shut up I'll do a one-shot of you two making love, you want that?

Both: NO! PLEASE NO!

Blitz: (sigh) R&R is greatly appreciated, now excuse me as I go borrow some of Soma's aspirin.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **You get the picture

Chapter 5: Boneson?

The duo entered the castle after doing some impromptu training, Laura had gotten pretty good with her rapier, and even managed to slay a monster or two. The area they were in now was a mansion like area, complete with chandeliers and custom carpeting, unfortunately neither Laura nor Andrew were able to find anything small enough to take with them outside of the castle.

"Tch, this place couldn't have a small vase or two?" Andrew complained, Laura looked at him and nodded vigorously.

"Seriously, can you imagine how rich we would be? Hey...I just thought about something...where are we going to rest when we get tired? This isn't a one day thing is it?" She asked her companion, who stopped dead in his tracks.

"...crap..." He muttered, causing Laura to start flipping out at him.

"Oh? Your stinking training didn't teach you where to rest in a situation like this? What good is our power if we're too tired to use it? And what about food, a girl needs the proper nutrients to keep her figure. Speaking of which, put some meat on your bones skinny!" Andrew thought about just killing her, but then he'd have to explain to everyone, so he settled for just pretending to give a damn.

"Mhmm, yes that's true...nuh-uh...I told you that bitch crazy..." He muttered in response to whatever Laura was saying. He didn't notice that Laura stopped talking and was now glaring at him, while he just walked ahead.

"Hey, moron with the bad attention span." She stated bluntly, getting said moron to turn around.

"There's an empty room here, and it doesn't look like monsters are able to get in, how about this place becomes a base of operations?" She said, sighing at the fact that Andrew probably didn't hear any of what she was saying earlier.

'Um, sure...sorry, let's check it out."

And so the two entered the supposed safe zone, marveling at how comfortable it looked. It had a couch, a king-sized bed, a kitchen, and even a bathroom. For the first time that day, something GOOD was happening.

"Sweet deal, I was getting worn!" Andrew exclaimed before crashing onto the couch.

"No kidding...wait, do you hear something?" Laura asked.

"...now that you mention it...is that barking?" Andrew responded, looking around. Suddenly a three headed dog jumped out at them from seemingly nowhere.

"Oh crap!" The two shouted, Laura jumped behind the couch while Andrew got his scythe ready.

"W-wait!" A voice shouted from the kitchen area.

"Huh?" The duo asked.

"H-he's harmless, he's just a little playful is all." A skeleton stated, walking towards the dog, petting each of it's three heads.

"Umm...what's going on here?" Andrew asked, while Laura just poked her head up from behind the couch.

"My apologies, my name is Ronald Caesar the Third, and this is my most trusted companion, Justice." The skeleton responded while the hellhound barked.

"And who might you two charming young people be? Surely you are not in this accursed castle for pleasure, am I correct?" He asked.

"Um...oh! Right, uh, my name is Andrew Arikado. I'm a special agent sent to investigate this place, this is Laura Cruz. For the time being, she's my partner. Er, can I ask you something?" Andrew replied.

"Go right ahead."

"How long have you been here? How did you get here in the first place?" Andrew asked, wondering why the heck he was having a conversation with a talking skeleton, wearing a butler's uniform, with a Cerberus as a pet.

"Ah, my good man, you see me and Justice here were out for our morning walk last Tuesday when suddenly a purple light engulfed us, when we woke up we were here and had taken these ghastly forms. Quite the dreadful experience, I must say." Ronald explained. Andrew pulled out some documents and looked them over.

"Yeah, what you're saying matches up with your missing person report. I can trust you."

"Thank you my good man!"

"No problem, I just need you to answer a few more questions, is that okay?" Andrew inquired.

"But of course...though I have a few questions of my own." Ronald responded.

"I'll give you any information you ask for, now first; is this room safe? Can me and Laura rest here without worry of monsters?"

"Yes you can my good sir, this room seems to be monster repellant." Andrew just stared for a moment, but decided not to point out the obvious.

"Another thing, this room seems to be linked to other rooms like it via that transportation device over there, though according to the papers I found there the other point in that area must be activated first." Ronald added.

"Oh, that's convenient. What about food?"

"Enough to last several lifetimes, though I myself have no need for food at the moment. There are also supplies in the room behind this one, but you will need gold pieces to access them."

"Awesome, and could I ask for your assistance here? We will need a go between of some sort...and I don't know about Laura but I can't cook." Andrew asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Ah, I have a masters degree in culinary arts. Now if you would be so kind as to answer my questions?"

"Sure, ask away."

"Just who are you two, why are you here, what is this place, and how long are we going to be here?" Ronald asked, Andrew sighed and looked over at Laura, who was playing with Justice. Turns out the dog really is a sweetheart.

"I'm not sure how long we will be here actually. We're here to investigate this place as I previously mentioned. This place is known as Castlevania, the domain of the lord of darkness." Andrew paused to see Ronald's reaction, however it would seem after being turned into a skeleton butler, he was willing to believe anything.

"Here's the scary part, I am the grim reaper reincarnated and Laura over there is the reincarnation of Dracula, the previous dark lord."

"You? The grim reaper? And that sweet girl is the dark lord?"

"Well I just happen to have the soul of death within me, and Laura is not the dark lord, she just has the potential to become one. However, trust me when I say that neither of us want that, she wants a normal life and I'd prefer to keep my power under wraps if I can." Ronald stared at the young man, then began to speak again.

"I'll do anything in my power to help you two, it pains my heart to see such honest youths burdened with such a heavy fate." Andrew couldn't help but smile.

"I...thank you."

"Hey Andrew! Boneson!" Laura shouted.

"B-boneson? What foolishness is this?" Roland asked.

"It's your new nickname silly, anyway check this out! Justice learned a new trick, shake boy!" Laura said to the dog. Justice held out his paw and shook hands with Laura. It was a pretty cute scene, even Boneson had to admit that much.

"Haha, well I'm pretty beat. Time to go to bed, okay?" Andrew suggested before noticing the elephant in the room.

"...who gets the bed?" He asked to himself as Laura jumped on it, then glaring at Andrew.

"Master Andrew, I think you'll be spending your nights on the couch over there, I'll pull out a spare blanket."

"Yeah, thanks..." Andrew thought that he didn't really want to share the bed anyway, and the couch was softer than his bed at home so he wasn't complaining.

"Good night Boneson!"

"Er, good night, Lady Laura."

"Night."

"Good night, Master Andrew."

"Bark!" And with that Boneson retreated to a coffin that lay in the side of the room, he had called that his bed for a while now, not wanting to mess up the bed before the two's arrival, and Justice took the floor next to it as his bed for the night.

* * *

><p>Blitz: Damn, 5 chapters in one day. I'm hoping I can keep this pace up, I'm kind of enjoying this!<p>

Boneson: Milord, weren't you going to work on the one shot series?

Blitz: I almost forgot! Thanks Boneson.

Boneson:...that name will take some getting used to, but it does seem to make this situation more bearable somehow. Please be so kind as to leave comments and reviews, though flames will not be taken seriously, only constructed criticism allowed.

Blitz: Yeah, what he said.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** ?: It's painfully obvious Blitz doesn't own castlevania

Blitz: Um, who are you?

?: You're writing the story here, you tell me.

Blitz: Oh uhh...well I guess I know who you are but I don't want to spoil anything.

?: Good...

Chapter 6: Finally, an explanation

"Okay...this bites..." Laura complained as the duo traveled through the lower levels of castlevania. This particular place they came across was a frozen wasteland, complete with glaciers and even a small blizzard. Luckily, Laura managed to absorb a flame demon's soul, and had modified it a bit to keep herself warm. Andrew, seemingly undeterred by the cold, kept quiet.

"Hey, how are you so calm right now? It's below freezing in here!" She shouted at her companion.

"Simple, I'm not a crybaby." He replied, smirking to himself when he saw Laura glare at him.

"Hey, I already gave you my jacket, what do you want me to do? I'm not the one with the firepower here." He added, holding his hands up in defense.

"You're a jerk."

"I know." The next couple of minutes went without incident, Andrew decapitating anything that came within his range and Laura burning everything in sight. Despite the harsh conditions, this was one of the least hectic moments the two experienced ever since being teleported into the demonic castle.

"Laura." Andrew suddenly spoke up, with a certain seriousness to his voice.

"What is it? Finally catching frostbite?" Laura joked, but when no snappy comment came back she started to get nervous.

"S-sorry, what is it? I"m listening."

"I was wondering, we've been here for about a week now, right? Have you noticed anything lately?" Andrew asked, not breaking his stare. Laura thought for a moment but couldn't deduce what Andrew was talking about.

"Like what?" Andrew closed his eyes for a moment. 'She doesn't know?' He thought to himself. 'I guess castlevania isn't taking her over like I expected it would. With the increase in souls she's collected the dark power inside of her should be awakening, if only a little bit. I guess I should be thankful this isn't happening...I really hope it's just me here...'

"Hey! Earth to Reaper!" Laura shouted in Andrew's ear, causing him to jump.

"Ah! Sorry, I was just thinking to myself, that's all." He replied, pretending to be unconcerned.

"Well pay attention! You sure you're a agent?" She complained, immediately bringing Andrew back to reality.

"Hey! I've been in training since I was 6, don't doubt my skills OR my ability to pay attention." He scowled at his laughing partner.

"And yet here I am criticizing you, look; don't get me killed, alright? I'm pretty sure daddy would have your head if anything happens to me." Laura said in between laughter. Andrew shuddered at that, Mr. Cruz was still a combat expert due to his own adventures. Andrew could just imagine Claimh Solais being shoved where the sun don't shine, and it wasn't a pleasant thought.

"Ugh...okay, I'll protect you." Andrew squeaked, he wasn't ready to die via angry daddy anytime soon. Laura brightened up at this comment.

"Really? Promise me, okay?" She asked, extending her pinky.

'Pinky swearing? Heh, how old is this girl?' Andrew thought to himself before locking his own pinky with hers.

"Okay, I promise I'll protect you. You're safe with me here." He said, smiling.

"Thank you, Andrew. I...I'm counting on you." Laura said quietly. And so the duo continued their journey through the frozen lands before something caught Andrew's attention. He extended his arm in front of Laura, signaling for her to stop.

"Something's coming, stay alert." He whispered, getting his weapon ready. As soon as Laura turned in the direction Andrew was facing a strange glyph appeared on the ground. It shone a bright blue light and suddenly an armored figure appeared in it's center. This knight was somewhat similar to the armor monsters that Laura and Andrew ran into. However, unlike the axe armors and disc armors, this one seemed to have some level of intelligence, as it didn't approach the duo carelessly.

"...you." It finally said, looking in Laura's direction. Laura edged closer to Andrew, who had already taken a battle stance.

"Peace, I mean you no harm at this time." It added.

"'At this time?' Meaning you plan on harming us in the future, right?" Andrew asked the knight. The knight approached the two, dark armor creaking with each step.

"Precisely, Death." It said, Andrew was ready to lunge at it, but found he was unable to move for some reason.

"Though, I suppose it would be more accurate for me to say I only intend to end this girl's existence." It added before standing right beside Andrew and Laura.

"W-why can't I move?" Andrew shouted, trying desperately to make his body respond to his commands.

"I'm stuck too! Help!" Laura screamed. The knight stood right in front of Andrew.

"There is no use resisting, my hold on you two will not break. Furthermore; I've already said I won't kill you, there is no reason to fear. Though I suppose I should set an example. My apologies, it seems some harm will be coming your way this day, boy." It said before a blue light surrounded it's left arm. The same light surrounded Andrew as he was lifted into the air.

"Wha...?"

"Learn to stay out of my way, begone." The knight said as it swung it's arm sharply to the side, sending Andrew flying into a nearby wall.

"Agh...! D-dammit!" He stammered; he tried to get up, but whatever spell the knight had on them hadn't worn off yet. He could only watch in horror as the knight made it's way towards Laura.

"Stay away from her!" He shouted, but it did little good. He tried moving again, this time straining a few muscles. Laura felt the tears forming in here eyes as the knight placed it's hand on her cheek.

"My name is Chaos, know this girl; your life will end in this castle. The master shall rise once more. Feel free to gather more souls, they will do you little good against my power. As you grow stronger, so shall I." And with that statement, the spell holding Laura and Andrew was lifted. Laura felt herself fall to her knees, staring up at the dark knight.

Chaos took one more moment to look at Laura, and in the same fashion it appeared in, Chaos was gone.

"L-Laura! Are you alright? Did that thing hurt you?" Andrew asked, finally able to get himself to his feet, he rushed towards Laura. Laura however didn't respond, but Andrew could see her eyes well up with tears. He narrowed his eyes and hugged her.

"Sorry, I guess I suck at this whole 'bodyguard' thing. I'll...I'll hunt down Chaos and make that freak regret this day. You don't need to do anything else, I'll take you back to HQ and you can stay with Boneson-" But he was cut off by Laura shaking her head. He looked at her and saw a determination in her eyes that was really unlike her.

"No, Andrew...it's not your fault, if you could move you would have won. And I don't want to hide, you got hurt because of me! I'm sorry..." She said, still crying.

"No no! I'm fine...but, you really wanna keep fighting?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah, it looks like Chaos knows what's going on, and it's gonna come after me no matter where I am. I want to get stronger, and we'll beat down Chaos and figure a way out of this place!" Laura replied, smiling through her tears, Andrew was silent for a second, but then sighed.

"I guess that's just how it's going to have to be then, alright; let's both get as strong as we can. I'd rather not be embarrassed again like just now." He said, standing upright again.

"C'mon, let's get what we came for." He added, helping Laura up.

"Yeah, and Andrew?" She asked.

"What is it?"

"I'm still counting on you, but I want you to be able to rely on me too. I'm not just going to be some deadweight. I guess I'm asking...umm..." Laura began to say, but couldn't find the right words. Andrew closed his eyes and smiled.

"Yeah, I get it. You've got my back, and I've got yours. I can live with that." He replied, Laura smiled and nodded. The two came to the treasure room which held exactly what they needed. There was extra gold, some new equipment, and a soul which allowed Laura to turn into a bat, and a medallion that granted Andrew flight as well.

"Perfect, we can scale that tower now, let's get-" Laura began to say but was cut off by a loud growling. Blocking their way back stood an ice dragon, none too happy about having his territory invaded.

"I guess now's a good time to work on this teamwork stuff, huh?" Andrew smirked, scythe at the ready.

"Yeah, let's get started." Laura responded, then began to evoke her flame demon soul.

"Burn! Now!" She shouted as a large fire ball shot from her hands towards the dragon. It hit dead on it's mark, causing the dragon to fall back. But it wasn't dead, it was mad. It began to spew ice spikes from it's mouth at Laura; Andrew stepped in front and, with a few quick precise swings of his scythe, the shards were no more.

"Get another one ready, I'll distract it!"

"Right!" While Laura charged up another fireball Andrew ran towards the dragon, blocking any ice shards that came his way. Once he got within range he turned around, slicing the dragon in it's stomach. Then he turned back and began to spin his scythe in a circular motion, rising a little from the continued rotation. After slicing the dragon exactly 26 times he backed up.

"Ready?" He shouted towards Laura.

"Ready! Fireball!" She shouted as an even bigger fireball erupted from her hand. It hit the dragon dead in it's face, making it fall over. Laura was able to determine that the dragon was dead after a few tests. (i.e. poking it with her rapier) Suddenly a red light entered Laura's chest, signaling she absorbed the monster's soul.

"Hmm...let's see how this one works?" She thought out loud as she conjured a large ice shard from her hand and fired it at high velocity.

"Wow, that was awesome! Did you see it, Andrew?" She turned to her companion, then began blushing with embarrassment.

"Yeah...I saw, now how about getting me down...?" Andrew sighed as he hung on the wall from his shirt, which was being pinned to the wall by the newly formed ice spike.

* * *

><p>Blitz: Well there we have it, another chapter down. Sorry if it seemed a bit bland, I wasn't really feeling it today but I wanna get into the habit of writing everyday, so I don't get lazy and don't upload chapters.<p>

(Suddenly a tall, mysterious, person walks in)

Mysterious stranger: Hey, what's the big idea? Your character used MY technique...

Blitz: Oh! Hey A-

Stranger: Answer, now.

Blitz: Um, ok...here; you'll get your honorable mention in a one-shot, and it'll help you get rid of a certain problem you've been having. Sound good?

Stranger: That works, anyway R&R.

Blitz: That's MY line!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **Kokoro: Blitz does not own castlevania

Blitz: Hey, you're from that knockoff Gradius game! Otomedius Excellent, I believe it was?

Kokoro: Uh, don't remind me, just...no.

Blitz: I am so sorry.

Chapter 7: Enter Kokoro Belmont

"So this is where the castle...was?" A young lady asked. She seemed to be in her late teens, possibly 17 or 18. She was wearing a school uniform; beige sport jacket, blue skirt, long white stockings and brown shoes. Her outfit was completed by a brown scarf and a pair of brown fingerless gloves. She herself had short brown hair with little black ribbons in it. Her eyes were a bright green that shone with a professional determination.

"That is correct, now miss Kokoro..." Genya Arikado replied, standing behind the girl. Kokoro turned around to face the Japanese agent, clearly annoyed.

"What is it this time?" She groaned. Arikado wasn't exactly fond of the arrogant young Belmont, but her skills were top-notch, and she was the only one who could enter the castle in it's current state.

"Do you have everything you need? I see you have supplies with you but did you pack everything?" He sighed. This wasn't a fun conversation.

"What are you, my Grandpa? Yes I have everything; food, clothes, etc etc. Can I go now?"

"Fine, just go...please do not fail us." Arikado sighed in relief, he was finally done with this little brat. Kokoro evoked a magic spell and suddenly she was transported away. It wasn't until after this that Arikado looked in the compartment in the side of his car and saw the mission overview Kokoro was supposed to take with her. Arikado looked around for a while, he was going to lose it and he didn't want anyone around to see.

"Oh God dammit! What the hell is wrong with that girl? How the hell do you go on a mission without your overview? Mina is going to be mad...as if having Laura spirited away didn't get her mad enough. I sincerely hope Soma keeps extra aspirin with him." He ranted, he was getting sick and tired of dealing with people under 21.

"I'll just pray for the best." He added before finally driving off, he had a very long night ahead of him.

Meanwhile, at the balcony of Castlevania, Kokoro had just teleported herself towards the entrance...unceremoniously falling on her behind.

"Ow! Dammit, I HATE using that spell. At least I only had to do it once..." She muttered before getting to her feet. She took a moment to take in her surroundings before going any further.

"Okay, those two can be anywhere in this castle...what was I supposed to do when I found them again?" She asked herself, going through her mission log...which was missing a few papers. Namely, the ones that had the details of her mission. Kokoro cursed under her breath before she had another idea.

"I guess I should just go through the profiles I have on them, let's see..." She first pulled up Laura's profile.

"'Age: 19, most likely the next to inherit Dracula's powers?' well that isn't reassuring, what would she be doing in Castlevania? Okay, where's the other one...? Ah! Here it is...'Age: 20, Soul infused with Death at a young age? Well-versed in own powers?' Well that settles it! These two have to go!" Kokoro shouted before running into the demonic lair.

Meanwhile, in a hallway in the castle.

"Ugh..." Laura groaned. Andrew turned his attention to his normally cheerful partner.

"What's up? Got a stomachache or something? I TOLD you not to eat the things we find in here, especially if it was dropped by a zombie!" He scolded, only to receive a whack over the head.

"That's not it, I just have a feeling we're gonna have to deal with something pretty soon..." And almost on cue, a girl appeared before the two, whip at the ready.

"Are you two Laura Cruz and Andrew Arikado?" She asked in a stern voice.

"Yeah, who are you?" Andrew replied with a look of relief on his face.

"Kokoro Belmont, I trust you two know why I'm here?" Andrew began to walk towards the young vampire hunter.

"Yeah, you're our-" He began but was interrupted by a whip cracking next to his face.

"Told you." Laura sighed as Kokoro got ready for another strike.

"W-wait! What the hell?" Andrew asked, recovering from his shock.

"It's my job to eliminate you two, any last requests?" Kokoro asked before cracking the whip at Andrew, which he jumped from.

"OW! HATE CRIME!" Kokoro seemed especially offended by this.

"Was not! You two are evil, so as a Belmont, I have to get rid of you two...I think..." Andrew was still rubbing his wound across his chest when Laura stepped up.

"You think?"

"I kinda lost my mission overview." Andrew was not amused.

"YOU LOST IT? I...I...you...ugh!" Kokor was confused by this sudden outburst.

"What? Why would you complain about that?"

"WE'RE ON YOUR SIDE! THAT'S WHY!" Andrew shouted as he got out his own copy of the mission report and gave it to Kokoro. After 5 minutes Kokoro's face changed to one of pure embarrassment.

"...My mistake, let's just forget it happened, okay?" She suggested, turning away to hide her blush.

'Tell that to my chest and shirt, she had better be glad we got some new equipment the other day.' Andrew thought to himself.

"So you're gonna help us? Well it's nice to meet you, Kokoro!" Laura chirped up, extending her hand. Kokoro returned the gesture with the handshake.

"Could I have an update on the situation? What's our current status?" She asked.

"I'll explain; We really don't know much, but as of right now our objective is to subdue a knight named Chaos. It seems to know something about all of this, but other than that everything else is still a mystery. We have a headquarters set up too, take this letter." Andrew handed her a letter.

"There's a skeleton butler and a cereberus in there, we would just let you introduce yourself, but after learning of shapeshifting monsters known as 'doppplegangers' we can't be too careful. Just show this to him and he'll explain what's going on as far as that room goes. We still have some things we need to take care of before we return ourselves, will you be alright on your own?" A nod was all Andrew needed before him and Laura were on their way. Muttering that sounded along the lines of 'That wasn't my fault! You should have let me finish before you used it.' and 'You would try and justify it.' could be heard from the two. Kokoro wondered what kind of people she was working with before she set off to find this headquarters.

It didn't take her long to find a room containing some type of transporter, when she used it she found herself in a large living quarters. She stared in awe before she remembered she had to find a skeleton butler. And almost on cue, said butler stood before her.

"May I help you?" He said.

"You're Boneson, right? Here, Andrew gave this to me to give to you." She responded, handing him the letter. Boneson sighed before accepting the letter, he read it over a few times before saying anything though.

"Ah, very good...though I must say that Master Andrew's handwriting could use a bit of polishing. Lady Kokoro, I presume?"

"Yes."

"If you would be so kind as to wait over on the couch for a while, you see it was my job to give you a basic overview on this room but...I was in the middle of cleaning you see..." Kokoro laughed at the poor butler.

"No worries, I'll just crash on that couch for a while, wake me up when I'm needed okay?"

"Very well."

Laura and Andrew returned with a few keys and another new soul for Laura, the Mandragora soul. When Laura saw the sleeping Belmont she got a brilliant idea, Andrew saw the look on her face and covered his ears.

-SHRIEK!-

"Waaah! Holy Cross! What the HELL was that?" Kokoro shouted, falling from the couch, she rubbed her eyes and saw Laura's laughing face and Andrew shaking his head.

"What was that for anyway?" She asked the soul user, who only covered her still snickering mouth in response.

"And why didn't you stop her?" She then turned to Andrew, who began patting Kokoro's head mockingly.

"Payback for earlier, that was one of my good shirts, you know?" He replied as his hand was swatted away.

"So anyway, Boneson told us he wasn't able to give you the tour...so I'll take care of that. First and foremost; you shouldn't sleep on my bed, or things like this will happen again." He pointed at the couch, for some reason, Kokoro began to blush.

"Noted, but where do I sleep? That's really all I care about right now." She asked. Andrew lowered his head as if he was deep in thought. Laura spoke up suddenly, getting both agents to jump.

"She can just share my bed, it's big enough for two people." She said without hesitation, Kokoro lowered her head in thought.

"I...guess that will have to work for now." She said quietly, she didn't like the idea of sharing a bed with anyone, boy or girl. Meanwhile Andrew had turned away for some reason. The girls looked at each other, than back at him.

"Why did you turn away?" Laura asked.

"...No reason." He replied.

"...It's probably better that you don't ask anything else, this guy is obviously one sick puppy." Kokoro explained.

* * *

><p>Blitz: There it is, chapter 7.<p>

Kokoro: Not feeling it today? I was kinda hoping my debut would be a little more...interesting.

Blitz: My bad, I think I came down with something so my brain isn't really working right.

Kokoro: Well that's understandable, guess Reader Reviews would be helpful huh?

Blitz: No kidding.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** Laura: Blitz doesn't own anything, he's that broke.

Blitz: Did you have to add that little bit?

Chapter 8: Should have known things would get tougher.

"Hey, Andrew?" Laura asked while the two were heading through the next level of the castle, a desert.

"What's up?" He replied, attempting to make sense of the map that HE had written the day before.

"How come Kokoro didn't come with us? Wouldn't it make sense for the three of us to travel together?"

"Actually no." Andrew began to explain, he spat some sand out of his mouth before continuing.

"You see, we need to cover more ground here. Me and Kokoro work for the same investigations agency, so I don't have any worries about her being alone in here. In fact; I've been told that the school she was studying at is a military school, she may actually be better equipped for this situation than myself."

"But if we need to cover more ground why aren't we all working separately?"

"Well that's simple; you're not nearly as well-trained as the two of us, not to mention that you're our main priority. If anything happens to you, we're screwed. You and I make a pretty good team but there might be times when you'll be working with Kokoro while I take care of something else. We'll deal with that if it comes up, make sense?" He continued to explain, with Laura nodding in agreement.

The two continued along until they found a ruin like structure, assuming that was where they needed to go, they headed inside.

"Man, nice to be out of that sandstorm...I've got sand in places where there really shouldn't be sand." Laura complained. She tried to get the sand out of her new armor. It was a light blue set of armor complete with gloves and boots. Under this she was wearing a midnight-blue set of a shirt and pants.

"That's a bit too much information for my taste, and at least this isn't your SECOND time being completely covered in sand..." Andrew added, trying to get the sand out of his hair. Andrew settled on a white armor plated jacket with golden gauntlets that went all the way up to his arms. He had matching boots and under this he was wearing black pants. After that they looked around a bit, they noticed the ruins weren't nearly as ruined as they should have been. The pillars and such had a Mayan style to them, and while most of the rooms didn't have a pristine feel to them, the deterioration was minimal, if there at all.

"Something isn't right here, but then again what is right in this crazy place?" Andrew commented as he sliced up another black panther, Laura didn't reply, instead she stopped in her tracks, staring at a painting.

"What's up? This isn't the place to gawk you know..." He added, trying to snap his partner out of it.

"Do you know who this is?" Laura asked, pointing at said painting. It was a picture of a man in a suit of armor. He had silver hair, not unlike Soma and Laura's, but not the same either. His skin was seriously pale and his eyes shone silver. The most striking feature he had was his disturbing smile, he seemed smug for some reason.

"...Yeah, if I recall correctly his name was Graham Jones. He was born at the same time as Dracula's defeat in 1999, because of this he inherited some of Dracula's power. According to the information we have on him, he got the same power as you and your father, the power of dominance." Andrew explained. Laura looked like she was shocked to hear that, and immediately asked for more information with a serious look on her face.

"Well for starters he was killed by your father in 2035, a year before Celia's cult came for him. Celia's cult was based on gathering people who were born at the same time as Dracula's defeat, the dark lord candidates, to give birth to a new dark lord. The ultimate evil to balance out God's ultimate good. Back to Graham, this was in the solar eclipse, the last time before this that Castlevania rose on it's own. Immediately after beating him though Mr. Cruz underwent a demonic transformation, though he retained his human personality. It was after beating Chaos and overcoming his demonic side that he, your Mother, and the others were able to escape. Needless to say, Jone's corpse was never recovered. But that's not what I'm worried about right now." Andrew continued, but seemingly his mind was on something else.

"Then what are you worried about?" Laura asked, still trying to wrap her head around what she just heard.

"This armor he's wearing...it's Chaos', though it's a bit more ornate there's no mistaking it. I think we just learned who it is behind that suit of armor." He replied, after a moment in thought he shook his head.

"That's a bit of helpful information, but we have things we need to take care of right now. There's a demonic energy coming from that room over there, I'm guessing that's where we'll find whatever's in charge of this place." He said, before pointing in the direction of said door.

The two entered the room to find a rather tall demon standing in the middle. It had red hair and green skin, and held what seemed to be knives.

"Ah, so you're the ones who were making such a ruckus in my domain?" It said. Laura and Andrew's jaws dropped.

"DID YOU JUST TALK?" Andrew asked loudly, the demon looked pissed off at their reaction.

"YES! I speak, what? You thought you stupid humans were the only one able to talk?How arrogant!" It shouted, clearly angrier than it was before hand.

"Ah, er...sorry. Um, you're just the first one we ran across that could actually have an intelligent conversation with us." Laura apologized, but the monster still looked upset.

"Um, who are you anyway? I mean...you said this is your domain, can you tell us a bit about it?" Andrew asked politely, trying to get the demon to calm down.

"Hmph, I am Zephyr...master of time." Zephyr replied, still annoyed with the two hunters.

"Time huh?...Wait a second...why are we having a conversation with you? You're the enemy!" Andrew shouted, nearly slapping himself out of his own stupidity. Laura shook her head in embarrassment, while Zephyr hung his head low.

"It's about time you realized that, relax..I'll carve you up good." He said.

"Bring it on!" Laura shouted, charging towards Zephyr recklessly.

"Wait! Laura he's-" Andrew began to say, but it was too late. With one movement, Zephyr was in front of them, then behind them.

"What...? Ah!" Laura shouted, she had been cut in the shoulder somehow.

"Laura!...Urgh!" Andrew tried to head towards his partner but was cut in his stomach. Zephyr laughed at the two while they looked at him in annoyance.

"I control TIME, as far as I'm concerned there's no way you two can even come near me! Much less hit me!"

'That is SO broken!' The two warriors thought to themselves, but Laura noticed something when they both backed up.

"Andrew, we might not want to get near him...but what about magic attacks?"

"Care to explain?"

"Well here's what I'm thinking; maybe he can't stop long range attacks! I've been working on my ice spear soul you know." She explained, Andrew looked deep in thought, then nodded.

"Better than getting sliced up without a fight, I guess." He agreed.

"Now!" Laura shouted as spears of ice shot at Zephyr, Andrew began his own spell.

"Stars of the end, bring victory to me!" He shouted as spheres of light surrounded Zephyr, then proceeded to shoot beams of light at him. Zephyr, immediately overwhelmed, was almost killed with that one combo.

"One more, now!" Laura shouted, but she didn't notice Zephyr threw a knife at her.

"Shit! Look out!" Andrew shouted, jumping in the way. He took the knife to the arm, interrupting the spell he was going to cast. Laura finished casting her ice spear spell, ending Zephyr's life. She then turned her attention to Andrew, who had just removed the knife from his arm. She didn't even take time to notice Zephyr's soul enter her.

"Well that hurt..." He muttered before trying to stop his wound from bleeding.

"H-hey, are you okay...?" Laura asked, taking hold of Andrew's arm. Andrew panicked for some reason and snatched it away.

"What the hell? Why are you being so defensive about your arm?"

"It's nothing, just ignore it, okay?" He said, trying to take attention away from his arm.

'I'd rather her not know about that...' he thought to himself.

"Well you're be-...OW!" Laura suddenly shouted, pressing her hand to her mouth.

"What's up with you?" Andrew asked, putting his arm behind his back.

"I bit my lip..." Laura replied, looking embarrassed.

"How do you manage to bite your own lip? But I can see some of the blood...let me take a look at it." Andrew asked, and without waiting for a reply he moved Laura's hand from her mouth.

"Damn, that's some puncture hole, you okay?" He asked, but he noticed something odd about Laura's mouth.

"Yeah...why are you staring at me like that?" She asked.

"When did you get those fangs?" He asked in response, Laura had little fangs that extended from her mouth, reaching over part of her bottom lip. This was probably how she managed to bite herself. Laura looked at Andrew with confusion, then placed her hand over her mouth again.

"You're right! What's going on here?" She shouted in panic.

"There weren't here this morning!" She added. Andrew began to think. He deduced that she got those fangs sometime during the fight, because before hand he hadn't noticed anything strange about her. Also she was exuding more dark energy than before.

"...We're going back to HQ, let's have Kokoro take a look at you when we see her again. I have a few guesses, but she's better with this sort of thing than I am, okay?" He suggested. Laura, still panicked, silently agreed to this plan.

It didn't take long to return to HQ, but when they got back Boneson was tending to Kokoro, who had seemingly fainted.

"What happened here?" Andrew asked, running over towards the fainted Belmont.

"She staggered in here just a few moments before you got back. I would assume she's tired, she doesn't show any signs of injury of sickness." Boneson replied, before taking a look at Laura.

"Is something wrong, Lady Laura?" He asked.

"I...I really need to talk to Kokoro...I think I'll just rest until she comes to."

"Very good then, I'll prepare dinner. May I trust you to watch over Lady Kokoro, Master Andrew?"

"Yeah, we've got a long night ahead of us anyway."

A few hours later Kokoro was back on her feet, and Laura had managed to calm down, if only slightly.

"Oh man...what a pain that was..." Kokoro muttered before greeting her two friends.

"Thanks for looking out for me."

"No worries, but could you check out Laura? There's something that's bugging her." Andrew asked.

"Sure, I'll talk to her." Laura was resting on the bed, not really sleeping, but still kind of out of it.

"What's up with her...? Oh I see." Kokoro stated, noticing the fangs.

"Is this bad...?" Laura cried, clearly worried.

"Depends, do you feel any different?" Kokoro asked, not nearly as worried as Laura or Andrew expected her to be.

"Meaning?" Andrew asked. Kokoro glared at him so he backed up.

"I mean, do you feel any more violent? Have a taste for blood or anything like that?"

"No, I didn't even like the taste of my own blood, I swear!" Laura stated loudly. Kokoro laughed and patted her on the head.

"It's just a cosmetic change then. This happened because of the amount of souls you've collected. As long as you're your usual self, there's nothing to worry about immediately." She explained. Andrew wasn't very comfortable with this news for some reason.

"Meaning it could be an issue in the future?" He asked.

"Yeah, but I noticed something...Laura, what is that pendant you're wearing right now?" She replied, pointing at the pendant Laura always wears.

"It's a talisman my dad gave to me. He said it always kept him safe since the day mom gave it to him, why do you ask?" Laura explained, holding onto the pendant as she said this.

"It's got a lot of holy energy in it, I can explain why this is important but...man now I have to give you two a lesson on vampirism..." Kokoro groaned.

"Basically, what's happening right now is that Laura's turning into a full blown vampire. Those fangs are proof, but before you start getting worried it's just the first stage. The first stage isn't a problem in itself, just a cosmetic change like I said earlier. The second stage is that your eyes will turn crimson, and you'll be interested in drinking blood. Also you'll be more of a night person than you were before. The final stage is that your skin turns really pale, and at that point there's really no going back." Laura started crying again, much to Kokoro and Andrew's displeasure.

"But your case is different, even in stage one you should be experiencing some personality changes. I'm guessing it's because of that talisman, it's preventing the darkness from taking over. Keep it on at all times...phew!" She continued, then sat down to catch her breath.

"Long story short, your pendant is all that's keeping you sane...well as sane as you could be anyway." Andrew joked, only to get smacked over the head.

"Ow! So, Kokoro, why were you passed out earlier?" He asked, rubbing his head.

"...It was the place I was in, I'd rather not go back." She shuddered.

"Care to explain?"

"I'd rather not but...look, if you two are gonna go there keep an eye on each other. Andrew, you just got out of map duty this time...actually, just thinking about it is making me sick...I'm gonna turn in early...goodnight you all." Kokoro muttered before just collapsing on the bed.

"Geez, I mean I know she's fine but...well I'm getting worried." Laura muttered, then she turned to Andrew.

"I'm gonna go to the balcony...I'll see you in a bit, later." She continued, then set off for the balcony.

"...what the hell is going on here?" Andrew muttered to himself.

"I believe you've all hit a breaking point, young master." Boneson replied.

"So you heard all of that then?"

"Quite, though it was not my intent to eavesdrop, my apologies."

"No don't worry, this mess concerns you and Justice as much as it does us, maybe even more." Andrew explained.

"How so?"

"Well the three of us have some sort of connection to what's going on here, but you and Justice are innocent civilians. I don't even know how to say how sorry I am you two are wrapped up in this." He continued, apologizing sincerely. Justice came up to Andrew and jumped on his lap, he gave him a lick on the face then barked.

"H-hey! That tickled!" Andrew laughed. Boneson joined in on the laughter as well.

"I believe we share the same feelings on the situation, I bare no malice towards you or any of the young ladies. I know you all are doing what you can when you can. Thank you, Master Andrew." Andrew was absolutely stunned, he had no idea how to react, it wasn't often he was thanked for anything.

"I...you're welcome, just hang in there a little while longer."

"Very well, and shouldn't you talk to Lady Laura? She seemed quite upset."

'No kidding' Andrew thought. 'That was the bomb of the century, I don't even know how she's coping right now'.

"She's a civilian too, she could use some support, Master Andrew. I will look after Lady Kokoro." Boneson explained, having just given Andrew a mission of his own.

Meanwhile, Laura was sobbing outside of Castlevania. It wasn't often something shook her up this much, but when they did she was devastated.

"I...don't want to become a vampire..." She thought to how her father must have felt the same thing, and wondered how he was able to calm the darkness within him.

"Daddy...was this because mommy supported you? And your friends?" Laura remembered hearing of her father's exploits from Kokoro one night, and how close he came to being the dark lord.

"...I really want to follow your example but...I'm not the same as you." She muttered. She poked her new fang with her finger, almost hoping it was just some joke, but there was no such miracle.

"I really hope we get out of this before I go along any further..." Laura didn't notice the footsteps behind her.

"Laura...you alright?" Andrew's voice came from behind.

"Well as fine as I could be...Andrew?" She turned to face her partner, still in tears.

"What's up?" Laura turned away, as if at a loss for words, then turned back to face Andrew. He was clearly concerned for how she was feeling.

"Do you trust me...?" She asked quietly.

"Heh, of course I do, after all...you trust me right? I'm getting us all out of here, remember?" Andrew explained, trying to sound as cheerful as possible.

"But what if I turn into a vampire...?" Laura asked, she was really going through the 'what ifs' in her private time.

"If that happens I'll handle it." Andrew put bluntly. Laura went from scared to annoyed in that second.

"You'll handle it? That's a little vague, y'know." She scowled.

"Mainly because I don't have a plan for that." Andrew admitted before dodging a fist headed in his direction.

"Whoa! H-hey, I was only playing around...sorry." He apologized, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"Can't you be more serious? I'm...ugh, forget it!" Laura stammered before pounding her fists into Andrew's chest.

"I...just want something good to happen to me, I can't take this stress..." She said before collapsing into Andrew's arms, sobbing again. Andrew was feeling her pain, and it wasn't fun.

"I'll never be normal, I just...?" Laura began to say, but Andrew suddenly placed his hand on her cheek.

"Y'know...you're more normal than you think. All I see is a cool girl who's just having a little run of bad luck. Just think about how you view Kokoro or Boneson and Justice or even myself for a second, okay?" He pointed out, tapping her head with his finger as he said it. Laura was a little annoyed with this 'Think Already!' gesture he was giving her, but it did get her gears turning. Laura didn't see Kokoro as a vampire hunter out to slaughter evil, but as a cool friend of hers. Boneson and Justice, she didn't see them as freaky monsters; Boneson wasn't really like a skeleton butler, he was more like an uncle who did everything he could to make sure everyone was happy. And Justice was like the pet she never had, always there to cheer her up when she was feeling down. As for Andrew, she never saw him as the incarnation of Death, but she wasn't sure how she saw him. He'd known her the longest, but she wasn't sure what she thought of him. Granted, because of her father, she didn't hang around guys on a regular basis.

"Something the matter?" Andrew asked, letting go of her cheek. For some reason, Laura was disappointed.

"I...you're right, I'm the same old me." She replied, laughing at herself. Andrew nodded, then walked over towards the edge of the balcony. Laura followed him, she had been watching the scenery for a while anyway.

"Huh, so that's how Earth looks from here...geez we're far from home." Andrew groaned.

"What's with the attitude? It's not like there's anything we can do about it right now, right?" Laura replied, the annoyance for her partner coming back.

"Well I guess I'm not used to breaking from my usual schedule yet. You must have things you'd be doing if you weren't here, at least I hope you do." He smirked.

"Yeah, but unlike you I find ways to occupy my time. Me and Kokoro usually hang out for a while, or I just focus on my training." Laura explained. Andrew, while surprised that Laura actually trained, was a little offended.

"Heh, so I'm not fun enough to hang out with?" He muttered darkly, and even though he was smiling Laura could tell it was one of those 'I don't have time for that shit anyway' smiles.

"Well you're a GUY, there are more things I can talk about with Kokoro than I can talk about with you, obviously." Then she got an idea. 'Let's see how much girl talk he can take before he complains.'

"Unless you WANT to talk to me about girly topics?" She taunted, goading Andrew into taking up this challenge.

"Try me." He said quickly, but then turned around regretting his decision.

"Well for starters me and Kokoro were worried about the lack of tampons here." 'Oh God...' Andrew thought to himself. He grimaced, then decided to respond, albeit painfully.

"Geez...glad I don't have to deal with that." He said, not really sure if that's the sort of thing he should even comment on. When he turned to face Laura the amount of discomfort on his face was obvious. Laura, impressed with the resolve she was seeing, switched to a new topic.

"Also we talked about what we like in guys, that's always a fun topic for us girls!" She happily exclaimed, eyes closed. If her eyes were open she would have seen Andrew make that 'Someone kill me right now' face that most guys get when they know they're gonna hear a LONG list of things that they don't give a shit about from a girl.

"Ha ha, I could just imagine how that conversation would go." He said, feigning interest.

"Well Kokoro wouldn't answer at first but she relented eventually. I'm not gonna tell you what kind of guy she likes though." Laura teased.

"That's probably a good thing, I'd get in trouble somehow." Andrew laughed.

"Hey! What kind of girl do you like, Andrew?" Laura suddenly asked, Andrew was taken aback from this sudden question into his personal interests.

"W-what kind of question is that? Why do I have to answer that?" He asked, not realizing he didn't have to answer.

"It's fun!"

"Tch! No way! How about YOU tell me what kind of guy YOU like first?" Andrew stammered, trying to regain his composure. Laura laughed at him for a while before answering.

"Fine you big baby; unlike you, I don't mind!" Laura teased him some more before going over all of the qualities she would want in a guy. She didn't wanna bore Andrew, but she wanted to give as many details as possible too.

"For starters, he's gotta be good looking." Andrew shook his head, Laura could have sworn she saw him mutter 'obviously' under his breath.

"He would also have to be loyal. I want to be able to trust him with my life, but he also has to be a little mysterious. If he spills his guts to me I might get sick. I don't want him to be a lapdog though, there's a difference between loyalty and just being a kiss-ass." Laura and Andrew began laughing at her choice of words before Andrew motioned for her to go on.

"He's gotta be understanding too. I...might not agree with everything he says or does and I would want him to get why before I even tell him. But I wouldn't want that to stop him from doing what he thinks is best." Laura muttered, she didn't realize how embarrassing this was. Maybe she'd let Andrew off the hook when she was done. But then her torture would go to waste, so she shook that thought of mercy from her mind and went on.

"Most of all I want him to be playful, he's gotta have a sense of humor, even if it pisses me off every now and again..." Laura stopped, she thought about the things she was saying and it hit her. She had just described Andrew down to the letter. It was odd, she never felt particularly attracted to him. Yeah, he was good looking, especially at that moment. His blue eyes looked as if they were peering into her soul, like she was being analyzed. But at the same time, they were gentle, they made her feel at ease. And his darkened skin took on a nice shade of brown in the little bit of light they got in that area, and his smile always told Laura everything would be okay.

"Why'd you stop? Getting into details that you wouldn't want a guy to hear?" He joked. A distasteful joke, but funny nonetheless.

"Actually that's it for me, now it's YOUR turn." Laura stammered, happy to turn the spotlight on him.

"Well...alright...hmm..." Andrew said, then began pacing back and forth.

"I actually have no idea!" He said pretty loudly, Laura would have called him out on being slick, but the look on his face meant he was serious.

"I guess if I really had to boil it down though...I'd probably be best with someone who's happy with me. I'm pretty sure if I can make a girl happy that's all I need to worry about."

"It's not that simple though, there's gotta be chemistry too." Laura commented, walking towards Andrew. She hoped that by trying to look serious she could get a better response from him.

"You just gotta go with what feels right in your heart sometimes, it's not as simple as making someone happy. You shouldn't HAVE to make them happy, they need to be happy just being around you." She explained, hoping her point made sense.

"I get it, that actually makes a lot of sense. Maybe I should give this more thought...thanks." Andrew said, patting Laura on the head. 'Dammit, why does he always do that? I'm not a little kid...' She thought to herself. His hand always felt good when he did that though, it was like his way of acknowledging her almost. Then he slid his hand down to her shoulder, something he hadn't done since they first came to Castlevania.

"You're more insightful then you give yourself credit for. I'm glad you and I met." He said with a sincere look on his face. Laura wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulders. This caught Andrew off guard, but he embraced her too.

"You too, I really feel safe with you around. Thanks, Andrew." She said quietly.

"No problem, I promised...right?" Andrew replied, reminding her of the little pinky swear they did. Laura hugged him even tighter then backed away enough to face him, not breaking her hold. He was smiling, eyes closed. Laura decided to follow her own advice, and because of that, she took the chance to plant her lips on Andrew's in a passionate kiss. Andrew opened his eyes in shock, he didn't have a clue how to take this, but he didn't care. Kissing her felt right, he felt happy, so he closed his eyes and returned the kiss. The two knew they weren't going for anything sexual, and that they'd have a lot of explaining to do if they returned smelling of sweat and satisfaction. But for that moment, all they knew was each other; no Castlevania, no powers, no danger, just the two of them and their feelings that were erupting like a volcano. Laura backed away, blushing like crazy.

"I...sorry, I didn't-" She was going to say something but was stopped when Andrew pressed his finger against her lips.

"It's cool, I'm not complaining. I'm actually glad you did that." He said, then laughed a little.

"Though I'm surprised I'm not bleeding, I thought the fang action was gonna carve into me for a second there." He joked, earning a punch on the arm.

"Shut up, you're lucky I don't go vampire on you and leave a few marks on that neck of yours." Laura teased, she didn't care if it sounded scary.

"Aww, but I wouldn't mind you doing that."

"Shut up!" And so the two argued all the way back to HQ, when they got back Boneson asked them what kept them so long. Andrew played it off as 'Trying to make sense of the situation' but the smile on his face gave him away.

"Very good sir." Boneson replied with a knowing tone in his voice before turning in for the night. Justice was already asleep and Kokoro had been out for a while.

"Guess we better turn in too huh?" Andrew suggested. Laura yawned before responding.

"Yeah, good night." She replied.

"Night." Andrew said before turning away, Laura grabbed his hand. When Andrew turned around he was met with another kiss.

"Sorry, I just wanted a good night kiss." Laura cooed while Andrew laughed quietly.

"Alright, you can have one from now on." Andrew said quietly.

"I'd like that." Laura whispered, and after a quick hug the two retreated to their respective sleeping areas.

* * *

><p>Blitz: Chapter 8 is done at last, guess this is what happens when you take a few days to write one chapter. More content FTW!<p>

Zephyr: Aw, that was so beautiful!

Blitz: Huh? Dude are you crying?

Zephyr: I LOVE stories like this! Two young lovers, realizing their feelings under the stars, even with their fates working to keep them down. No matter what they find strength in each other, that is true love!

Blitz: Uhh yeah...umm well let's see what the readers have to say about that, okay? 'Freaking crybaby...'


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **Arikado: Blitz doesn't own anything.

Blitz: Yep, listen to the man, he's wearing a suit; he's official.

Memories

Laura and Andrew decided it was high time they checked out whatever place had Kokoro so freaked out.

"Any intel you can give us before we head out?" Laura asked the young Belmont.

"Just stay together at all times, the house of illusions isn't any joke." She muttered before returning to her own duties. 'Helpful' Andrew thought to himself before following Laura out of the door. It didn't take long to get to said 'House of Illusions', it was one of those places they passed by in the beginning but couldn't access without certain abilities. The ability in question? Flight. Kokoro had mad jumping skills, so she was able to get there first, but apparently something in there messed her up so badly she had to come back. She had even fainted from pure shock, something that wasn't like her at all.

"So what kind of place do you think this will be?" Laura asked, tugging on Andrew's arm.

"I'm guessing it's gonna test our abilities of perception. With a name like the 'House of Illusions', it's pretty hard to come to any other conclusion." He explained. Laura let go of his arm and began to walk ahead, she was getting impatient. The vampirism, despite not taking much effect other than her growing fangs, was worrying her. She didn't like the fact that she was considerably closer to becoming a vampire with each passing day. Andrew may have been able to accept being Death incarnate, but she wasn't so willing to succumb to her fate.

"H-hey! Don't just run ahead, okay?" Andrew yelled, catching up to Laura. After letting him catch his breath the two came to a door which Kokoro had said led to the house of illusions.

"Alright, let's get going." He added before opening the door. The two stepped inside to find an ordinary corridor.

"Lame..." Laura muttered, getting Andrew to chuckle. Somehow, Laura managed to make situations much more light-hearted with little comments like that.

"Heh, I prefer lame to dangerous." He said before the two came to the next room. This room was filled with mirrors, so Andrew immediately got on guard and motioned for Laura to do the same.

"Let's go slowly, okay Andrew?" She asked, Andrew nodded and took the lead. The mirrors were pretty normal for the most part, some of them were even like those fun house mirrors that made people look ridiculous. Laura took notice of this and began to play around, much to Andrew's chagrin.

"Hehe, look at this one! No one should be this thin!" She shouted as she posed in front of a mirror that made her look stick thin. Then (And she should have seen this coming) She and Andrew were sucked into the mirror she was standing in front of.

"And this is why we don't play with mirrors in a demonic castle." The scythe wielding warrior muttered. Laura pouted, she really liked it when Andrew was playful, but he wasn't really like that during missions.

"Sorry...i was only trying to lighten the mood." She apologized. Andrew closed his eyes, but then smiled.

"Relax, shit happens. This probably would have happened sooner or later, anyway. Now where are we?" Andrew asked, looking around. They were in a house for some reason, nothing too fancy. Andrew was completely clueless, but Laura had paled considerably.

"This is...my house..." She muttered, getting her partner's attention. Ever since the two began to see each other, Andrew was much more attentive to how Laura was feeling, the things she whispered, and how she said things.

"I see...so this is your house, stay close to me and you can lead me around." Andrew suggested, he couldn't think of anything comforting to say so he just pulled her closer, calming her down a bit.

"Okay." She agreed, but before they could go anywhere the two heard shouting coming from upstairs.

"Dammit Soma! You just got back!" The two heard the voice of one Mina Cruz (formerly Hakuba), and she obviously wasn't very happy.

"Look, Mina; It's not my fault! Arikado called again and it's really urgent." Soma yelled from above. Andrew winced, this didn't look like something that Laura would want to see. He was going to suggest the two waiting outside or something, but then she started crying.

"I -sniff- remember...this..." She said in between sobs.

"Remember?" He asked, then mentally slapped himself. 'Sure' he thought. 'ask your girlfriend about what was obviously a traumatizing event...idiot.'

"I don't wanna talk about it." She said bluntly, nearly squeezing the life out of Andrew's arm. Andrew nodded, thinking it was best to stay silent.

"Mommy! Daddy! Stop fighting! PLEASE!" A shrill voice shouted.

"Laura, go to your room!" Soma shouted in response, rather cruelly. 'No...not again...' Laura thought to herself, nearly falling to her knees. Were it not for Andrew's support, she would have fallen over sobbing already.

"But-"

"WHAT DID I JUST SAY?" Soma shouted, even louder than before. After that shrill crying could be heard. That's when a young girl came crying down the stairs. She jumped on the couch and started flailing about. She was a younger version of Laura, about 6 years old at the tops. She was wearing a pink dress and pink sneakers, like any normal kid. Laura finally began to compose herself before sitting on the couch next to her younger self.

"Don't cry, it's gonna be okay." She tried to pat her on the head, but her hand went right through.

"This is one cruel illusion. You okay?" Andrew asked, once again mentally slapping himself. 'IDIOT! Of course not!' He thought. Laura didn't say anything, instead she sat there, watching the scene unfold.

"LAURA! Get back up here! You NEED to go to your room, me and your father need to talk ALONE!" Mina shouted.

"NO!" Young Laura shouted towards upstairs. Present day Laura looked over at Andrew, who was very uncomfortable. He was nice enough not to say anything, but he didn't wanna watch either.

"This was probably the worst day of my life. I thought my dad was gonna leave forever. Your dad called my dad in for a mission, and my mom was sick of him leaving all the time." She explained. Andrew turned away with a guilty look on his face, this whole situation was the result of his father calling in her father.

"It's okay, it's not like you had anything to do with it." She added, setting the man at ease. Andrew thought how strong Laura really was, comforting HIM while SHE'S reliving a childhood trauma.

"LAURA, NOW!" Soma shouted, finally coming downstairs. His face was red and veins were popping out everywhere. Both younger Laura and present day Laura shrunk down in fear. Soma snatched up his younger daughter by the waist before Mina came downstairs, just as upset.

"Soma, put her down! She's just worried, just like I am!" She pleaded, Soma obliged, and as soon as he let go his young daughter grabbed onto his leg.

"Daddy, don't go! You promised!" She cried, getting present day Laura to shed a couple of tears. Andrew came over and hugged her, and when he did she wrapped her arms around him and hugged his so hard he thought he was going to pass out via lack of oxygen.

"Soma she's right...can't you refuse just this once?" Mina pleaded with her husband, near tears herself. Soma looked ready to blow a gasket, so he pried his daughter from his legs and paced around the room for a bit.

"If I could I would! You know that!" He shouted. Younger Laura was full blown crying again, and Mina picked her up.

"It's almost her birthday, dammit!" She shouted, trying to calm her young daughter. Soma tried to calm down as well, but he found it hard apparently, because he just stormed out the door and jumped in his van.

"FINE, SOMA! GO AND DON'T COME BACK!" Mina shouted at the top of her lungs. Little Laura ran outside to try and catch up with her dad, but he had already started out the driveway. Younger Laura fell to her knees and shouted for her daddy as loud as she could. Older Laura nearly fainted, but was held up by Andrew. She looked at him with tears clouding her vision. She opened her mouth to speak, but when she was embraced by Andrew the words wouldn't come. Instead, tears flowed seemingly without end. During this event between the two, the surrounding area faded back to the room they were in before they were sucked into the mirror.

"Daddy didn't come back for a month, even though Mr. Arikado said the mission was complete after two weeks. My dad didn't show his face until the day before my birthday. My mom didn't receive him well, but I ran into his arms without hesitation. That's when he gave me this pendant. He promised he would never leave again...and he kept this promise." Laura explained, trying to keep from crying anymore.

"I'm sorry, I wish I knew what to say to cheer you up." Andrew said quietly. Laura looked at him and shook her head, but smiled.

"It's alright...you being here is more than enough." She said, trying to hold back another cry fest.

After Laura got her bearings together the two set off again, being wary of any and all mirrors they came across. There was one in particular that caught Andrew's attention, and for some reason he was walking towards it.

"Andrew?" Laura asked, confused by his actions. It was his idea to avoid the mirrors anyway, so him doing this was odd. He didn't respond though, he just walked closer, then fainted as he got within arm's length of said mirror. After Laura shouted after him the two began to get sucked into the mirror, same as the last one.

"Ugh...ow, what happened?" Andrew asked as he awoke. He was holding his head as if he was in immense pain.

"Are you okay?" Laura asked, feeling Andrew's head for a fever.

"I'll...be fine. Don't worry, and thanks." He said, then nodded.

"I'm sorry, looks like I got us in another mess this time." He added. Laura just hugged him, forgiving him without speech. Andrew took a look around, then stood up.

"Looks like it's my turn to relive some things." He muttered, clenching his fist as tight as he could. Laura looked around them, they were in a rather decrepit looking building. Chipped paint, squeaky floorboards, and a lack of heat made the place very depressing. Laura looked at Andrew, wondering why this place was a part of his past.

"This is the orphanage where I grew up, I've got a lot of memories surrounding this place...Wonder which one I get to flashback to?" He said nonchalantly, but Laura knew better. This was bothering him big time, he just didn't want to say so.

"Give it back, that isn't yours!" A young boy's voice echoed throughout the halls.

"Make me, or are you going to cry to the nuns again?" A young, but deeper voice responded. Rather than waiting for whoever these kids were to show up, Andrew began to follow the voices to the next room. Laura, not wanting to be left alone or leave Andrew alone, followed him. In the next room a young boy about the age of 8 was holding a locket above the head of a shorter., but about the same age, boy that looked pretty familiar.

"Well this bites..." Andrew muttered, looking over at the younger version of himself. He was wearing a white shirt that looked too big for him and brown shorts, he had on mismatched socks and run over looking white sneakers. His hair was relatively short, compared to how it was in the present. 'Aww...he's so cute!' Laura thought to herself, smiling brightly.

"Why do I get the feeling you wish you could give younger me a hug?" Andrew said mockingly, Laura blushed and looked away but soon turned her attention back to what was unfolding before her.

"C'mon Nolan! You know how important that is to me and Amy!" Young Andrew shouted before lunging at the taller boy.

Then admit you cut in line to get your fortune told!" Nolan taunted before tripping young Andrew. Andrew got up but had tears in his eyes.

"I didn't, I swear!" He muttered, wiping his eyes with his arm.

"This was the day my powers manifested within me, the fortune teller came by and all the kids lined up. I was towards the back of the line but for some reason I was called up to go first. Needless to say a few of the other kids got a little jealous." Older Andrew explained.

"But...who's Amy?" Laura asked. Andrew winced a bit before answering.

"My twin sister, that locket has our picture in it." He said, pulling said locket from his pocket then handing it to Laura. She opened it to reveal young Andrew and a little girl that looked like him playing. She was very cute, her long hair went straight down to her shoulders and her white dress was practically spotless. Her blue eyes mimicked Andrew's, but shone with an innocence that even the younger Andrew's lacked.

"She's cute, how come you haven't mentioned her before?" Laura asked.

"She's sick, if it weren't for the fact that we have top notch medical equipment at home she'd be living in the hospital. Andrew explained solemnly, getting Laura to regret asking that question. Suddenly, said girl came running into the room, yelling at Nolan.

"Stop it, you know he was called up to go first!" She shouted at the boy. Nolan stuck his tongue out at her.

"Yeah right, and who's gonna believe him?"

"I do!"

"You're his sister! Of course you're gonna believe him!" The argument got the attention of countless other kids. Soon there was one of those grade school circles with the kids chanting for a fight.

"C'mon Nolan, give him a break!"

"Beat him down, Nolan!"

"Stand up, Andrew!"

"Amy, let your brother handle this!" The chants were non-stop, and eventually Nolan shoved Amy to the ground. 'BOOOOO!' Laura thought to herself while Andrew began to kneel over.

"-cough- cough- -hack!-" He began coughing pretty badly, covering his mouth. His face looked pained, and he was retching over.

"A-are you okay?" Laura asked.

"...guh, get ready...you're gonna witness something pretty wrong here...if you don't have the stomach, look away now!" He coughed out through his hand. Laura was wondering what he meant, so she turned back to the drama in front of her.

"...Apologize to my sister, Nolan..." Younger Andrew said darkly, seemed he was as protective of his sister as he was of her now she thought.

"Or what?" Nolan teased back, shoving Andrew lightly.

"Just do it...now..." Young Andrew demanded. The crowd went silent, apparently no one ever saw him like that.

"If you don't...I'll kill you..." He added, getting Nolan to laugh uncontrollably. Little Andrew looked like he had enough, and shouted at the top of his lungs. At that second his shadow began to fluctuate, eventually it grew into the shape of the grim reaper. Nolan and the kids behind him froze in terror while the ones behind Andrew and Amy ran off. The shadow materialized and a scythe appeared from out of nowhere.

"Oh my God..." Laura whispered as she saw this while Andrew kept hacking away. His eyes looked ready to pop out of his head, but Laura didn't notice. The shadow swung it's scythe at Nolan, hitting him, the kids behind him, and grazing Amy. When the shadow returned to normal so did the younger Andrew. He looked at the gruesome sight, there were kids before him not moving or even breathing. It didn't take him long to realize they were dead. Then he turned to Amy, who was barely moving.

"Amy!" He shouted, his sister seemed like she was very weak. That's when the older Andrew let out a loud cough, grabbing Laura's attention.

"A-are you okay?" She asked again.

"Yeah...I'm fine." he said, not moving his hand from his mouth again, but Laura took a closer look at his hand, and saw blood slipping between his fingers.

"You're coughing up blood!" She shouted, and before Andrew could say anything else the floor opened up from beneath them. After falling for what felt like forever, the two landed in the same room they were in before, with all of the mirrors. Laura got right up while Andrew struggled to stand.

"Andrew, let me see!" She shouted, moving his hand from his mouth, very easily for some reason. She was surprised to see how weak Andrew had gotten, he was not doing well at all.

"...Every kid except for Amy was pronounced dead on the spot, Amy herself was diagnosed with a terminal disease that keeps her bed-ridden. She won't die, but she can't go anywhere or do anything without over exerting herself..." Andrew mumbled, trying to regain his strength. Laura held onto him tight, not sure of what to say. That's when a shrill voice rang out in front of the two.

"Well well! Looks like those memories got to you huh?" It said, and at that point a red cloaked demon appeared before them by jumping out of a mirror.

"Who are you?" Laura asked, not letting go of Andrew.

"I'm Paranoia, you have me to thank for these lovely home videos." Paranoia cackled, bowing over as if he had just done something well.

"But still, I thought I was sick...but you, reaper! Slaughtering a bunch of orphans, and nearly killing your own sister? You are messed up!" He added, getting Andrew's attention.

"What did you just say? I never hurt Amy!" He shouted before coughing again. Laura tried to get him to calm down but he brushed her off, something he'd never done before. Laura stood back in shock at this behavior, but came to the conclusion that it was justified. But it looked like Andrew was unaware that Amy was hit by his shadow when it attacked.

"Oh? Didn't you see that huge scythe graze her side when it attacked? Some brother you are!" Paranoia taunted. Andrew stood there, pondering over the events of that day. Then he looked up in shock, what Paranoia was saying was true. Andrew couldn't believe he was the cause of his sister's suffering. Laura looked at him, wondering what to say, but was shocked when he got his scythe out.

"Oh? Want to fight? I warn you-" Paranoia began, but was never able to finish. Laura watched in horror as Andrew glowed an unearthly red, specifically his left arm. He made a swinging motion with his scythe, then held out his glowing arm at Paranoia. Paranoia was enveloped in a red light, unable to move, speak, or breathe. Andrew held a blank expression as he clenched his hand into a fist, crushing Paranoia in the evil energy.

"Final arte; Execution." He said as he aura disappeared from around him. Laura nearly fell over but got a hold of herself when she absorbed Paranoia's soul.

"Andrew?" She asked her unmoving compatriot. When he didn't answer she tried grabbing his shoulder and turning him around by force.

"Andrew, listen to me!" She shouted, but was met with a gaze unlike anything she's seen from Andrew before. His blue eyes were icy and devoid of life, and his mouth looked as if he was scowling. Laura backed away before Andrew spoke again.

"Sorry, let's go back." He said quietly before walking past Laura. Laura stared at him for a moment, then followed along quietly.

* * *

><p>Blitz: Well that's it for chapter 9, not funny at all. I was hoping to give some more insight into those two.<p>

Paranoia: Hey! Why'd I die so quick?

Blitz: As annoying as you are in DoS? Shit, you DESERVED that.

Paranoia: But-

Blitz: Look, you advanced the plot big time, just be glad you did that. Anyway R&R please?


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** My bank account tells you I don't own a multi-million dollar franchise like Castlevania

Demonic Confrontations

'That was way too rough yesterday...' Laura thought to herself as she got dressed for the day. The day before she and Andrew had to relive their worst memories, the latter of which got even worse. After learning he was the cause behind his sister's illness, Andrew went into a state of quiet chaos, killing the monster that stood in their way with ease. That would have been a good thing, but afterwords Andrew was acting differently from normal. He wasn't joking around at all, he rarely spoke, and he pretty much dismissed anything anyone said to him. He was pretty much unapproachable, even to Laura, who he had recently became an item with. Laura, needless to say, was worried about this behavior. But she couldn't do anything about it at the moment, she had her own issues to worry about. A little while back she underwent vampirism, and had little fangs growing out of her mouth, and she intended to get rid of them.

"Good morning, Andrew." She said to her traumatized partner, but he didn't respond.

"Andrew?" She tried again, this time prompting him to acknowledge her.

"...You'll be working with Kokoro for a while, there's a few things I need to check out on my own." He said bluntly, not even turning around. He was already dressed and ready to venture into the demonic castle, and before Laura could say anything, he was gone.

"Andrew..." She thought out loud.

"He probably has a lot to think about right now, don't worry." Kokoro said, patting Laura on the shoulder. While she considered her and Laura to be good friends, she had no idea how she was feeling. There was no immediate way to comfort her, and as for Andrew, there was no consoling him either. Eventually Laura and Kokoro set out, their own things to take care of. After the battle with Paranoia Laura absorbed his soul, to be able to move freely within mirrors. The room they fought in was full of mirrors, but neither Laura nor Andrew thought to look into them at the time. So Kokoro suggested that since Andrew was out on his own mission and the monster who stirred up all those unpleasant memories was gone, that they should check out the mirrors for clues.

The trip to the house of illusions was uneventful, neither girl speaking, as if there was some barrier between the two. Despite the two training together every now and again, it felt like they were fighting alongside strangers. It was Kokoro who tried to break this ungodly silence first.

"I wonder what it would be like to go inside of a mirror? We should probably prepare ourselves to see some crazy stuff." She joked, badly. Laura turned around and looked at her with that 'really?' face.

"Was that supposed to be funny? Let me try; what if we meet our reflections? Wouldn't that be awesome?" Laura joked, sending both girls into a laughing frenzy. Now that the two were cheered up, they stepped in front of an ornate looking mirror, assuming it was the main one. Laura began to glow as well as Kokoro, and in the blink of an eye, the two were looking through the mirror to the side they came from. The room they were in was pretty much the same except for the weird spectrum of colors.

"Why do I feel like I'm tripping balls?" Kokoro stated bluntly. Laura's eyes widened, sure Kokoro was on the tomboyish side, but tripping balls is something that should never come out of a girls mouth.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing, let's check this out." Laura sighed before leading the way into another room. There were no enemies to be found, so walking around was easy to say the least. That is; it was easy until they came to a room surrounded by dark energy. It wasn't any normal dark energy though, the level of power was immense, almost enough to make Laura and Kokoro fall to their knees. Laura in particular felt a disturbing presence behind that door. But without any fear whatsoever, the two entered the room.

"Chaos..." Laura spoke as she looked into the room. The dark knight stood before her, not even turning around to acknowledge her.

"Or should I say...Graham Jones?" She added, this in particular got Chaos to turn around.

"So you know now? No matter, it's not like you'll be able to stop me." He said, removing his helmet. Graham looked the same way he did in the painting, gray hair and skin, but his eyes were glowing crimson. And his armor looked more distinguished. Beforehand Chaos looked like just another axe armor with a different color scheme, but now his armor had golden trim on it and he had a black cape that was purple on the inside. His blade had gotten larger as well, needless to say Chaos was even more powerful than he was before.

"How are you even alive?" Kokoro shouted, according to what they knew, Graham was killed in 2035 by Soma himself. Though a corpse was never found, Soma stated that he was dead as a dead man could be.

"Hmm...a Belmont...no matter, I shall tell you young ladies." Graham began to speak, not even drawing his weapon.

"After Soma Cruz...killed...me, my blood seeped into the floor, deeper and deeper, until it had reached the lowest levels of Castlevania. I should consider myself lucky, as it dripped onto a suit of armor, the very same armor I wear now. After enough had dripped onto this armor, I found myself able to move once again, albeit without a real body to call my own. By the time I was accustomed to my new host, the castle was disappearing. For many long years I wandered in the spirit of the castle, killing anything that stood in my way. Eventually, my power returned to me, and the more souls I collected..." He paused, making sure Laura was paying attention with a smug look on his face.

"...the stronger I became. Soon, I became so strong that I was able to control Castlevania at will. I was able to bring it forth to this plane once again...but I still wasn't powerful enough. That's where you come in, my dear Laura." He said mockingly, as Laura readied her new whip rapier (modified by Kokoro, approved by the cuts on Andrew's arm when he tried to snag Laura's leftover dinner).

"Care to explain? Before I skewer you?" She said bluntly, trying to sound as menacing as possible.

"With pleasure; for it is because of you that I am so close to completion. You see, after I defeat you...I can absorb all of the souls you have taken from the monsters here...I will have enough power to rule over all, no one would be able to stop me!" Graham shouted before laughing manically. Laura cracked her whip sword at Graham's feet, shutting him up.

"Don't think so, I want to go home...I can't do that if I die. If it means we can all leave, I WILL cut you down!" She shouted. Kokoro readied for battle as well.

"I second that, plus this time; Castlevania won't be coming back. I'll see to it." She said, holding her own whip.

"I see, very well...I do want to test this power. Come!" Graham called, brandishing his blade. He was the first to attack, his weapon hitting the ground. When it did a dark shockwave charged towards the two. The two girls jumped to the side, not wanting to find out if they could take such an attack the hard way. The shockwave left a large impression on the floor, and while Laura was still stunned by it Kokoro pulled out one of her family's holy boomerangs. She tossed it at Graham, hitting him dead in the chest.

"Why you little!" He growled as he readied his weapon for another shockwave. He was interrupted by Laura, who had readied a ice spear while no one was looking. This attack missed, but did knock Chaos off of his feet.

"Damn you, I'll end you both!" He shouted as a circle of darkness appeared around him. As this was happening the air in the room grew heavy, bringing both girls to their knees. The circle grew even larger in circumference, eventually covering the entire floor.

"Do you feel that? It's the feeling of your life leaving your own body." Graham said ominously.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in a big tower.<p>

"Ah-CHOO!" Luther Lansfeld sneezed while he was fighting, allowing Fayt Leingod to dimension door his ass back to 4D space.

* * *

><p>"Gotta...get...out of this!" Laura struggled to choke out as she tried to stand up.<p>

"Laura, come here!" Kokoro shouted as she began to glow with a holy light. Laura, not knowing what her partner was planning, jumped over next to her.

"GRAND CROSS!" Kokoro shouted as a glowing cross shot up from around the two, dispelling the evil circle. Graham looked pissed.

"Okay, that was my favorite attack...you two just have to die now. I'm done playing around with you children." He muttered, trying not to shout. The girls noticed his frustration and laughed pretty loudly.

"Wow, some dark lord wannabe you are!" Laura joked. Kokoro decided to get in on the fun as well.

"For someone who's been gaining power since before we were born, you're pretty weak, you know that?" She taunted, dangling the vampire killer mockingly. Graham wasn't so calm anymore.

"That's it, time for you to DIE!" He shouted as a dark aura covered his entire body, when it dissipated Graham was completely encased in his armor, which had grown a tail and bat wings.

"Crap...you ready, Laura?" Kokoro asked, getting another boomerang ready. Laura nodded and the two charged Graham. While they did do a fair amount of damage it was getting harder and harder to dodge Graham's attacks. At one moment Kokoro had to push Laura out of the way of an attack, only to get caught by his tail. Graham lifted Kokoro high into the air and pointed his palm at her.

"You'll be the first, I'd rather not have you in my way." He said coldly before his hand began to glow red. And before either Laura could do anything, or Kokoro could say anything, a spear of darkness shot out of his palm. This spear impaled Kokoro in her stomach, shooting straight through.

"Agh!" She choked out before being thrown to the side.

"KOKORO!" Laura shouted as her friend flew towards the wall. Laura dove to catch her, just barely making it. Kokoro was still breathing but it was definitely pained.

"Just...I'll be fine, finish him!" She choked out before losing consciousness. Laura, not wanting her friend to die there, glared at Graham.

"I'm gonna kill you!" She shouted as she began to shoot ice spears. Graham laughed to himself.

"What do you think that will do? Those spears aren't nearly enough to hurt me." He said, but suddenly he was forced back to the wall, when he looked to what caused this he noticed his wings had been impaled and pinned to the wall by the spears.

'Whoa, didn't mean to do that...' Laura thought to herself, then she thought to use her flame demon soul in a barrage. She began shooting fire balls from her hands at high velocity towards Graham. Graham, not being able to move, cursed loudly as the fire balls hit him. Eventually he was consumed in fire, screaming in agony, but Laura didn't stop. She continued until she felt a soul enter her body and she fell to her knees.

'This is...Graham's soul...Chaos' soul...' She thought to herself, but before she thought anymore about it she ran over to Kokoro, she was still breathing. Her breathing had gotten calmer, and her heart was still beating. Laura picked her up and ran as fast as she could to the nearest teleportation room. She needed to get Kokoro back to HQ where she, Boneson, and hopefully Andrew could patch her up. It didn't take long to get back, and without needing to give an explanation, Boneson took her to the bed and began performing emergency first aid. He apparently spent time as a nurse in a hospital, so he was able to stabilize Kokoro relatively quickly.

"Lady Kokoro will be alright, she needs her rest though. I can assume something happened?" Laura explained what happened with Graham, and expressed her confusion as to why Castlevania was still around, despite their victory.

"Perhaps it has something to do with what Master Andrew wished to speak with you about." Boneson stated, getting Laura's immediate attention.

"He said something about wanting to speak with me? Why didn't he say so this morning?" She asked.

"He came back before you did, he asked me to let you know he will be waiting in the clock tower. After that, he left again. I assume he's already there." 'Dammit'. Laura thought to herself. 'If he had been with us earlier today this mess wouldn't have happened!' She was getting very upset very fast.

"Milady Laura?" Boneson asked. Laura looked at him and nodded, signaling for him to continue speaking.

"Might I ask why your eyes have turned crimson?" He asked, Laura gasped then ran into the bathroom. Despite undergoing vampirism, she could still see her reflection. Her eyes were blood red, probably a result of taking Graham's soul.

"Dammit Graham...he's lucky he's dead or I'd kill him." She muttered to herself. She took a deep breath and began to think. First off there were too many things that seemed wrong as of late. First, Andrew was acting strange, and even with the memory and realization that he made his sister sick, it was odd even for that. Second, even though Chaos was gone, Castlevania was still around. This shouldn't be the case because the master was dead. Lastly but not least, she was still going through vampirism at an alarming rate. And on top of that, Kokoro was badly injured, albeit recovering in stable condition. Laura figured it would be easiest to start with what she could do first, and that would be meeting with Andrew. But she was still tired, surely Andrew wouldn't mind if she took a quick break, right?

So Laura took her hour long nap and woke up feeling refreshed and better than ever.

"Boneson? I'm going to meet with Andrew. If Kokoro wakes up tell her that's where I went and to take it easy, okay?" And with a nod from Boneson, she was off to the clock tower.

"Oh my God...who the hell invented those Medusa Heads?" Laura shouted in frustration. The clock tower was unforgiving, and that's putting it mildly. Between Medusa heads floating and flying everywhere, spinning gears that threw her off her balance, and Spikes everywhere it was a miracle that Laura was able to get to the top.

"Andrew Arikado is a dead man!" She added, wondering why oh God WHY he chose to meet in such a deadly place to begin with. She finally came to the top of the tower to find a large room. In this room Andrew stood, facing the other direction.

"Andrew!" Laura shouted, getting Andrew to turn around. He opened his mouth to speak but then his eye started twitching.

"You've got a...on your shoulder there..." He motioned, Laura checked her shoulder and found a Medusa head stuck to her jacket. She promptly removed it then kicked it sky high. She turned back and Andrew gave the thumbs up.

"Why the HELL did you want to meet here anyway? Do you know what we've been through while you were out exploring? We killed Graham, and Kokoro is severely injured..." She explained while Andrew closed his eyes, presumably deep in thought.

"Don't just stand there! Say something!" She added, running over to Andrew and slapping him across the face. Instead of being upset, Andrew began smiling.

"Yeah...I had that coming..." He muttered, then turned his attention to the doorway behind him.

"The place beyond that door is special, it's cursed...we'll call it cursed." He explained. Laura wasn't able to quell her anger, but she did listen, maybe that place had something to do with why Castlevania was still around.

"Explain."

"Alright, get comfortable, it's a long story."

_Earlier that day..._

"_I wonder if that dream I had last night was a vision of some sort? I'd rather not have Laura or Kokoro involved if I can help it..." Andrew thought to himself as he headed towards the clock tower. The night before he had a dream about a land of death waiting beyond the doors of the clock tower. He was still relatively upset about his sister, but he couldn't let that get in the way of his mission. After letting Laura know of his activities he decided to investigate his theory._

"_Oh God...so many Medusa heads..." He muttered as he struggled through the evil tower. Eventually he came to the door he saw in his dream, after taking a deep breath he stepped through._

_The area beyond that door was disturbing, to say the least. There were corpses hanging from the rafters, and there wasn't a living thing in sight. Even the air in said room felt heavy and draining somehow._

"_This isn't right...I'm not sure what's up with this room but it feels like without my power I'd be dead within minutes..." Andrew muttered to himself, that's when it hit him. Andrew ran back into the clock tower and managed to catch a Medusa head._

"_These things ARE living creatures...I think..." He said, checking for vital signs. After confirming that it was, in fact, alive he brought it with him to the room that was causing his distress. He threw the Medusa Head into the room and almost immediately a sliver light radiated from it. It began spazzing out as the light grew brighter._

"_...So that's the power behind this place..." Andrew muttered as the Medusa head began to slow it's movements. Eventually it was still, and the silver light was gone._

"_This place drains the life of any living thing that enters...and the reason I can traverse it is because I am Death. My soul is already dead in a sense, so this place shouldn't be a problem for me." He added before entering once again. The journey through the lifeless halls was quiet to say the least. Other than a few zombies and ghosts, there were no real problems to speak of. Soon he came to a strange door, one that had a seal on it._

"_What the hell?" He asked out loud before trying to break the seal himself. He was pushed away by an unseen force, and that's when he sensed something familiar._

"_This door, it's the same as when we first entered Castlevania...Laura needs to break this seal, not me." He deduced after giving Boneson the message to pass along, he went back to wait for her._

"And that's what happened." Andrew concluded. By now Laura had calmed down, and actually understood what he was saying.

"Well that makes sense, so let's go!" She shouted cheerfully before heading towards the door. Andrew went wide-eyed and shook his head in a comedic fashion. HE chased after Laura, grabbing her on the shoulder.

"Wait! Didn't you hear me say that the power of death is the only way to survive that place?" He shouted, Laura looked at him then giggled.

"Oops, forgot that little detail." She laughed.

"But then how are we going to get there? If I can't survive in there, and you can't break the seal, how is this gonna work?" She added. Andrew began to walk away, then sighed loudly.

"It's not like I, in particular, am anything special. It's my soul, that was infused with the soul of Death, is the reason I can get through. You don't need me, you need my power." He said.

"I don't get it, how do I use your power?" Laura asked, she got a feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the answer to that question.

"I'll make this as simple as possible." Andrew said quietly, turning to face Laura.

"You need to kill me."

* * *

><p>Blitz: There's the latest chapter. Thanks to Draconic and Vesperiafangirl for reviewing! (Am I allowed to give shout-outs? Other people do so I guess so)<p>

Zephyr: Ooh this is getting good!

Paranoia: No kidding! It almost makes my sorry death bearable!

Blitz: You two are dead, and yet you're sitting here...with popcorn and nachos...giving play by play commentary like you were Jerry the king Lawler and J.R., what gives?

Zephyr: We were bored, so let's let our readers give their own commentary!

Paranoia: That little button at the bottom of the page is all it takes!

Blitz: For the love of...forget it, gimme some of that popcorn.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I'm considering writing a Nathan Graves fic, something else I don't own

A/N: This chapter's gonna be pretty dark, or at the very least, depressing. It's castlevania, it's gotta get depressing at some point, right?

Death and Sorrow

Laura couldn't believe the words that just came out of Andrew's mouth. She must have frozen or something, because Andrew was going to say something again.

"Did you hear me? Laura, you have to take my soul, and in order to do that you have to kill me." He repeated. Laura shook her head, clearly in denial.

"Andrew, that's not even funny! I'm NOT going to kill you!" She shouted. Andrew knew what she was feeling, he had been feeling it for quite some time himself. The feeling that comes with losing someone you deeply care about. He would lose his head if something were to happen to his sister, and he had no idea what he would do if something were to happen to Laura.

"You really don't have a choice right now, Laura look...you need to get out of here, by any means necessary." He explained, trying to make sense of things himself. His head frantically searched for another way to get through this hurdle, but he couldn't find one.

"Why do you have to die? Why do I have to kill you? You're just as important as I am, there's no reason for you to die...look, we can think of something, I know it!" Laura pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't want to believe it. The only way to get further and closer to escape from Castlevania, was to take the life of her friend, her boyfriend at that. She eventually fell to her knees, sobbing. Andrew went to her side, but instead of embracing her, he unsheathed her sword. When Laura noticed this Andrew was already putting it in her hand with a sad look on his face, it was obvious to her he didn't like this any more than she did, but she couldn't find it in her to take the sword in her hands. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Andrew, crying into his chest. Andrew, with a heavy heart himself, didn't return the embrace.

"Andrew no! I don't want to kill you! You're one of the best things that's happened to me during this whole mess! I want to go home with you! I want us to lead normal lives after this! How can we do that if you're dead? Andrew, I l-" Laura couldn't finish that sentence, because the second Andrew heard what word Laura was about to say he shoved her away from him. Laura stared at him in shock, she was just going to tell him how she really felt about him, but this sudden display of brutality stopped her in her tracks.

"Andrew...please..." Laura begged, but instead of responding, Andrew readied his scythe. Laura looked at him in even more shock and sadness, he couldn't possibly be thinking what she thought he was thinking, could he?

"Laura, listen. There's no other way...you have to use my soul to get yourself out of here. My mission is to make sure you get out of here alive and well, even if I don't join you. But if you're not going to listen to me, then I won't have any choice. One of us isn't going to leave here alive." Andrew explained with a dark look in his eyes. Laura backed away slowly, not wanting to believe what was happening. Andrew advanced on her, scythe looming ominously over her. With one swing Andrew almost decapitated Laura, luckily enough, she rolled out of the way just in time, not even losing a strand of silver hair. Instinctively, she took her weapon in her hand, ready to strike back. Laura knew what Andrew was thinking, if she wasn't going to kill him willingly he would force her into self defense, and eventually she would strike a fatal blow. Laura wasn't about to do that though, she instead went on the defensive, only blocking Andrew's attacks.

"Why don't you fight back, already?" Andrew shouted, swinging his weapon madly. Laura was able to block every hit, having seen Andrew fight by her side enough times to memorize how he fought.

"There's gotta be another way!" She shouted in response, tears falling even still.

"There isn't! If there was we wouldn't be in this mess right now!" Andrew shouted back, trying to hit her with all his might. Despite the fact that he had the strongest feelings for Laura, he was hitting her with everything he had. He needed to make his point, but he couldn't help but be happy that Laura wasn't getting hurt at all. She was good enough to defend herself against him, even with the situation being what it was.

"_C'mon Laura, you're not going to live long if you keep that up!" Andrew taunted poor Laura during a training session. Because it was a training session, he wasn't using his scythe, but rather a sword that he found a little while back. Laura was using her rapier, before Kokoro had a chance to modify it with whip-like capabilities._

"_Then go easier on me! How can I learn if you don't even give me a chance to fight back?" Laura complained with a scowl on her face. Andrew was probably the roughest teacher Laura could ever imagine. His training regimen consisted of running 100 laps through the entry way of the castle, followed by sit ups and push ups, 7 sets of 50 each. That was just the warm-up, after that Laura would go one on one with Andrew, with him winning every time._

"_Because the monsters here are going to go easy on you right? I don't think they'll be as nice as I am." Andrew teased, he knew that Castlevania wasn't nearly as tough as he made it out to be, but Laura needed to be under the impression that it was. That would make this whole mission ten times easier, he thought. Laura pouted cutely, as if begging for a break. No dice, Andrew thought to himself._

"_But how can I fight you as tired as I am, when you haven't done any of the exercise I did! It's like I'm fighting you at 50 percent health, while you're at full health!" She complained. Andrew shook his head in response._

"_If you're energetic enough to make fighting game references, you're energetic enough to fight me. But I'll cut you some slack, you can use souls this time if you want." He had previously banned Laura from using souls in their training sessions, thinking she would use them any chance she got to make her training easier. Laura cocked her head to the side cutely, then smiled._

"_What are you so happy about?" He asked, but before he thought Laura was going say something he was bombarded with Ice spears and lightning bolts. He managed to block most of them, but a few got through. He was surprised at this sudden outburst of energy, but he was glad that the training was successful._

"_Not bad! Laura, you've actually got the hang of this!" Andrew shouted, blocking what attacks he could. The barrage wouldn't stop though, instead it sped up. He noticed it was getting harder to block Laura's attacks, and eventually his blade was knocked from his hand, and he was knocked to the floor on his behind._

"_I win!" Laura shouted cheerfully, jumping up and down. Her energetic cheering made Andrew wonder if she was just holding back sometimes._

"_Heh, so you did, you could have taken it easy on me, you know." He complained sarcastically. Laura made a silly face at him before speaking._

"_Because the monsters here are nice enough to take it easy on you? I doubt they'll be as nice as I am." She taunted, extending her hand to help Andrew up. He laughed at this sudden turning of the tables before taking her hand, their training done for the day. _

Andrew thought back fondly on that day, after that event their teamwork had gotten much better. They were a well oiled fighting force that flowed like clockwork. So he had a good feeling that even though he planned on dying to help Laura, he could rest easy knowing she was strong enough to handle things on her own.

But this wouldn't happen as long as she wasn't actually attacking him, she was only defending herself from his techniques. At this rate they would both just get tired.

"How long do you plan to just stand there blocking?" He shouted, letting up for a moment.

"As long as it takes you to come to your senses!" Laura replied, she was still crying, but she was more focused now.

"This is getting us nowhere! That's it, Laura!" He yelled, getting her attention.

"If you're not going to fight back, then I really will kill you. There's no way you can block these new attacks!" He shouted before sliding back to the center of the room. 'New attacks?' Laura thought to herself, her mind flashed backed to when they fought Paranoia, but that wasn't exactly new...was it?

Laura watched as Andrew punched the ground in front of him as hard as he could with his left hand. She was going to comment on what a stupid display that was but then something unexpected happened. His gauntlet shattered, revealing his left arm. Laura gasped, she knew Andrew was hiding something back when they fought Zephyr. His arm was bare, but there were glowing red symbols on it, and he was wearing a bracelet adorned with a blood red gemstone. When she saw this she felt the air around her grow heavy, as if the gravity in that room intensified to unbelievable levels. It took a moment to adjust to it, but she still had trouble standing.

"This is my real power, when I don't hold back. It's never been this intense though, maybe it's because we're in Castlevania?" Andrew mused, getting Laura's attention. Laura was speechless when she saw him, his arm's symbols were glowing brightly and there was an aura surrounding Andrew. It was a black aura, and it almost covered him completely. Andrew himself had changed too. His hair had been released form it's ponytail, so now it was flowing wildly. His blue eyes turned into a deep red, even redder than Laura's. His weapon had gotten bigger as well, and the hilt now had a double edge on it. He was clearly on a whole different level than before.

"Is this...what you were hiding that day?" Laura asked quietly.

"...Yeah, I had hoped to get out of this without unleashing it." Andrew responded solemnly.

"There's no going back after using this power. I can't turn it off, and by doing this, I'm more of a monster than I am a human. Now I really need you to kill me, because I'll never go back to normal." These words made Laura fall to her knees, crying loudly. Andrew, seemingly without emotion, advanced towards her. He swung the back end of his new double scythe, aiming to kill.

Laura noticed this action, and instinctively jumped out of the way, but then Andrew lunged forward, swinging the front end of his weapon at her. He had gotten faster and more fluid in his movements. Laura was able to dodge the first attack, but the second hit her in the arm, making her drop her weapon. She cried out in pain, but even than Andrew showed no emotion at all.

"You...what's wrong with you?" She shouted at him, with him not even so much as flinching.

"The nature of death is the end of the line. When the journey is over, emotions...feelings...thoughts don't matter anymore. All your memories, all of your experiences cannot stop the thread of life from being cut. All things must end eventually." He responded before getting ready for another attack.

"One way or another." He added before lunging again. Laura knew she couldn't just block this time, instead she jumped forward, thrusting her weapon deep into Andrew's stomach, piercing is white armor jacket. This made Andrew mess up his attack, and knowing that Laura could go for another lunge, he jumped back. Laura noticed the blood running through the jacket, but Andrew was seemingly unaffected. Laura's eyes welled up with water again, she couldn't believe what he had turned into. He really was a monster, with no humanity to him at all. But she still wanted to save him, no matter what it took.

"You hesitate too much." Andrew muttered before going for another lunge, Laura used her hippogryph soul to jump high into the air, even to the ceiling. She knew that Andrew couldn't get that high up so quickly, even with his newfound power. As she started to fall down towards the ground Laura took this chance to shoot some of her ice spears at Andrew at high velocity. Andrew managed to block most of them, but luckily for Laura, one of them hit him dead in his right shoulder, making him drop his weapon and reel over in pain. His face didn't show any pain, he still had that emotionless look on his face, but it was clear that he was hurting because he was holding his shoulder tightly.

Laura stood in front of him, ready to deal out another attack, but looking at Andrew made her hesitate again. Andrew was unable to move his arm at all, the muscles in his arm had been completely torn and gripping his weapon was impossible. He abandoned his scythe and instead began to mutter some sort of chant. When he was done a white light surrounded Andrew's left hand, and when he shot it the light turned into a giant skull that sped towards Laura at high speeds. Laura, though speechless, managed to overcome the shock and jumped back before the skull could chomp down on her. When the light dissipated Laura noticed Andrew was nowhere to be found, but almost on cue, she felt a hand grab her shoulder from behind. She turned around to find Andrew standing before her, and before she could make a move, he grabbed her by the throat with his left hand and lifted her high into the air. Laura had trouble breathing, and his grip wasn't letting up anytime soon. She thought back to all the times they had helped each other, why did it have to come to this?

"Aahhh..." Laura tried to scream, but Andrew was gripping her throat to tightly for her to make a real sound.

"_You're gonna die if you don't hurry, girl..."_ A voice rang out in Laura's head. It was sick, twisted and demented.

"G-Graham..." Laura muttered, now was not a good time for her to hallucinate, especially hallucinate the voice of someone who had caused her so much pain.

"_My power can save you...do you really want it to end here?"_ The voice muttered again, even louder this time.

"_If he wants to die so badly, grant him his wish!"_ Louder again.

"_Weakling! If you don't end him I will!"_ This time too loud, and Laura felt her arm move towards the direction of Andrew's chest. 'No!' She thought to herself, but before she could resist her hand glowed a red aura; and just like in the fight with Graham himself, a spear of darkness impaled Andrew. But unlike Kokoro, this one got Andrew in the chest, specifically where his heart was. Andrew went wide eyed, and let go of Laura.

"_You are pathetic..."_ Graham's voice rang out in her head, but soon the sound of his taunting faded from her mind. Laura tried to get her bearings, almost being choked to death took a bit out of her. She managed to catch her breath, and when she looked forward she saw something she hoped she would never see.

Andrew was lying in the middle of the floor, near death. Laura rushed over to his side, crying while trying to speak.

"ANDREW! I'm so SORRY! Please...DON'T DIE!" She sputtered in between sobs. Andrew's face wasn't emotionless anymore for some reason.

"Ugh...you did good...Laura..." He said before coughing up blood. His arm wasn't glowing anymore, and the dark aura surrounding him was all but gone.

"Andrew...please, I need you to live..." Laura begged, hugging the dying man. She could feel his heart beat faintly, but erratically. And with each beat blood was squirting from the stab wound. Andrew weakly wrapped his good arm around her.

"It's...alright. This...is what...I needed...to...happen...ack!" Andrew coughed up another puddle of blood, away from Laura. When he turned to face Laura again he noticed that her eyes returned to the shining blue he remembered.

"Your eyes are...back to normal..." He muttered, Laura went wide eyed when she heard this. At least something good came from that encounter, but she wasn't concerned with that, her beloved was dying in her arms.

"Andrew...hang on, please!" The tears were flowing full force now. Andrew weakly pressed his hand on Laura's face, wiping away the tears from her eyes. Laura grabbed his hand, noting that his grip was really weak.

"Laura...you're strong...you'll be fine. Take this..." He slid the bracelet with the red stone on it onto her arm from his dying arm.

"I'll be with you like this..." He muttered. He gripped on to her hand tighter, but he was still very weak.

"Andrew...don't go...I love you!" Laura shouted, Andrew managed to smile, despite the pain he was experiencing at the moment.

"I...love you...too..." He whispered before closing his eyes. Laura cried as she felt the grip Andrew's hand had on hers grow weaker and weaker until finally, it went limp altogether. Laura didn't think he was gone until she felt the soul of death enter her own.

"ANDREW!" She shouted before collapsing onto Andrew's corpse, crying for what seemed like forever.

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><p>Blitz: There it is, the chapter that I've been waiting to write. I ain't too good with death scenes, so I'm hoping this'll have some effect on those who read it.<p>

Paranoia: WAAAAH!

Zephyr: WAAAAH!

Blitz: Like these guys...anyway the next chapter is going to be a treat for those who know the style most of these Castlevania games go. Most of them have a bad ending hidden in there somewhere, and the next chapter will be what happens if Laura, for some reason, didn't have the talisman that Soma gave her as a child equipped. Read and Review and thanks to those who are reading this, even if you aren't leaving reviews I do appreciate that people are reading this.


	12. Bad Ending

**Disclaimer: **Laura: Blitz doesn't own Castlevania, that's because it's mine! Along with anything else I could have asked for!

Blitz: Um, you alright?

Laura: Of course! Isn't everything alright? Life couldn't be better! By the way, Andrew says hi!

Blitz: Oh-kay...I'll just go ahead and tell this story while we wait for the nice men in the white suits to take you someplace fun, okay? Great...(Crazy...)

Bad Ending, need more be said?

"_Mommy? Daddy?" A young Laura Cruz yelled as she ran downstairs into the living room. She had just been told to go to sleep, as it was past the six year old's bedtime, but she had a burning question that had been on her mind for a while now._

"_What is it, Laura?" Mina asked, not even reprimanding her daughter for staying up even later than she should have._

"_Shouldn't you be in bed? Just because you don't have school tomorrow doesn't mean you can stay up as late as you want to." Soma, however, did reprimand her. Little did he know that this lesson would not sink in for years to come._

"_But I was thinking about something important!" Laura pouted, immediately winning over her father's approval to stay up later._

"_Alright, let's hear it." Soma stated, picking up his daughter and sitting her on his lap._

"_How will I know when I'm in love?" Laura asked suddenly, catching both of her parents off guard._

"_I thought boys were 'icky'?" Mina asked, imitating the six year old, causing her to laugh._

"_He he! They are! But they can't all be, right? After all; daddy isn't ALWAYS icky." Laura responded, giving her father a hug. Soma returned the hug, but was thinking; 'Since when am I icky?'_

"_Well that's true, sweetie. But what brought this up?" He asked, after all, Laura was only six years old. There was no reason for her to ponder such things._

"_I was playing Fire Emblem and two of the characters fell in love and got married. Hector can be stupid sometimes, but he's a good guy. After all, if a girl that's afraid of boys like Florina can like him, he's a good example that not all boys are gross idiots...all of the time." Soma had to wonder what kind of games they were buying for his daughter, but he brushed it off and patted Laura on the head._

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the dragon's gate.<p>

"Ah-CHOO!" Hector of Ostia sneezed in the middle of his fight with Nergal. When he did he threw his axe, Armads, by accident. It flew and hit Nergal square in between the eyes.

"Oh shi...I mean...I MEANT to do that!" He lied as he pulled the axe from his friend's nemesis' head.

* * *

><p>"<em>So anyway I was thinking I wanna get married someday, but I don't know when I'll fall in love with someone." Laura added, looking at her parents with puppy dog eyes. Both parents melted at this cute display, but neither Soma nor Mina knew how to answer her. So Soma did what any good parent would do, he thought back on his own experiences...leaving out the details about Castlevania, of course.<em>

"_Well I know when I first noticed I was in love with your mother. There was one time when I was really scared that I would never see her again. I was so scared that I almost went crazy, until a friend told me that Mina was okay. I was so relieved when I heard that she was safe, and that's when I knew that I didn't wanna be afraid of losing her again." He explained, looking at Mina with a loving look. Mina returned this look and decided to throw in her thoughts on the subject._

"_And I remember I was afraid that your daddy wasn't himself. He seemed like he was turning into someone I didn't really know. But I knew he was still the same guy I grew up with, he just looked a little different is all. And I knew that he was doing everything he could to make sure me and our friends were okay. I knew that the best way to help him was letting him know I cared about him no matter what happened." She said. Mina and Soma exchanged a quick kiss, earning them a quick 'Eww!' from Laura._

"_Sorry, sweetie. So here's your little test-" _

"_A test? I just studied for one!"_

"_There aren't any wrong answers, just tell us what you think now. When do you think you'll be in love?" Mina asked, despite being interrupted she was in too good a mood to get upset at Laura for her rudeness. Laura pondered for a minute before answering._

"_I think I'll be in love when I meet a boy that would do anything to protect me, just like Daddy does! I have to be able to trust him. I don't have to know what he's thinking all of the time, but I do want him to make sure what he was doing was best for me. But he also has to be sweet and handsome and...umm...strong too." Mina and Soma exchanged amused looks, they felt a long list coming up and they were getting the feeling that it was just an excuse for Laura to stay up longer._

"_Most of all I want him to make me happy, and I want him to be happy with me. No matter what happens between us I want our feelings to stay the same." Laura added before yawning, signaling it was time for little girls to go to bed. Soma lifted her up and carried her back to her room, Mina following along to tuck their daughter in._

"_Good night, Laura, love you." Mina said before kissing her daughter on the forehead._

"_Night, sweetie, love you." Soma added before patting her on the head._

"_Good night Mommy, good night daddy...Oh, one more thing..." Laura asked, getting both of her parents to stay for a little bit longer._

"_Where do babies come from? Eliwood and Ninian had a son named Roy, and Hector and Florina had a daughter named Lilina. I know the stork story is a fairy tale, so where do they really come from?" She asked, causing both Soma and Mina to look at each other in shock._

"_And what's a cond...dumb?" She added, this one got her parents to really jump. After Soma and Mina exchanged shocked glances, and after a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, Mina was left to give her daughter the dreaded 'talk'. Soma ran back downstairs and thanked God he didn't have to have that conversation, though he knew that Mina and him were going to have a LONG talk later on. He sighed and went back to watching the movie the two were watching._

Soma knew something was wrong when he got that familiar chill down his spine in the middle of the night. This resulted in Mina nudging him because he was moaning in his sleep. When Soma explained he was worried about Laura all of a sudden, they both got up and sat in the living room for the remainder of the night. The next morning the two were a little shocked to receive a call from Genya Arikado, saying that he was coming over with a report on what happened with Castlevania.

Soma knew something was wrong, and his fears were later enhanced when he found he had somehow regained the power of dominance. While waiting for Arikado Soma suddenly had a bad thought, and when he clenched his fists as a reaction, electricity began to form around his hands. This meant that his Rycuda power returned, and with it, the rest of his abilities. When he noticed this Soma got the feeling that his bad feeling meant something. But he could only wait and think while Arikado made his way to his home. After about an hour or so, the doorbell rang. Without thinking, Soma opened the front door, already knowing who it was.

In the doorway stood Genya Arikado, an injured Kokoro Belmont, Yoko Belnades, an older gentleman by the name of Ronald Caesar III and his dog, a Siberian husky named Justice.

"May we come in?" Arikado asked quietly. Soma nodded and led the group in, he noted that both Laura and Andrew were missing from the group, causing him no end of worry. Once everyone was seated Arikado began his report.

"Castlevania has returned to where it once was, before it disappeared. A new dark lord has taken the throne and has already begun to wreak havoc in the surrounding area." He began, wasting no time whatsoever; Soma and Mina nodded, but Soma was hoping Arikado would just get to the point...he already had a good idea where this was going anyway.

"So who's the new dark lord?" Soma asked, as if he didn't already know the answer.

"I'm sorry, you two..." Arikado apologized solemnly.

"It's Laura..." Kokoro added, eyes welling up with tears. When she said this Mina broke out crying.

"Why? Not Laura...not you...!" She sobbed, crying into Soma's arms. He was crying too, albeit not as much. Arikado looked away, Kokoro looked towards the floor, Yoko took a seat next to the couple and tried to comfort them. Ronald expressed is sincerest condolences and Justice whined loudly.

After about an hour of sadness Arikado moved along to the other reason he was there, the return of Soma's dark powers.

"I've noticed the power of dominance has returned to you, until this matter is...resolved, I must ask you to stay here. I will lead a team into-"

"No, if you're going into the castle, I'm coming too." Soma said, interrupting Arikado. Arikado was going to object, but seeing the look on his friend's face made him think otherwise.

"Very well, please take as much time as you need to prepare yourself." Soma did, he assured Mina he would be okay when he left with Arikado, Claimh Solias in tow. The team consisted of Arikado, Soma, and Kokoro; who insisted she should come along, despite her injuries. She was Laura's friend and wanted to try and save her. Yoko, Ronald, and Justice stayed behind to keep Mina company.

When the three arrived at Castlevania it was even more demonic feeling than when they had seen it the first time. However, the inside was practically empty, devoid of any monsters at all. That being said, the trip to the throne room was a quick one.

Soma took a moment to collect himself before opening the door, he wasn't sure what he would find in the next room or what condition his daughter was in. Needless to say he was saddened to find Laura completely sired, the same fate he had so narrowly escaped himself. She was sitting next to a bed, tending to someone that wasn't really moving at all.

"Laura..." he said sadly, but loudly. His daughter turned around and that's when he knew there was no going back. Despite her appearance being similar to what he always remembered; she had fangs, red eyes, and her skin was completely pale. She looked even more like a vampire than Arikado, who had taken this chance to turn himself into Alucard (Much to Kokoro's delight).

"Hm? Oh! It's you, daddy!" Laura replied happily, her personality seemed to be the same as always. She didn't stand up to greet him though, she was busy looking after whoever was in the bed. The three took that chance to advance on Laura, not attacking, just to see if anything could be done. When they got closer they saw who was in the bed. It was Andrew, but he showed no signs of response or even knowledge that the three had entered. A closer inspection of him revealed why. He had an impalement wound on his chest and a piercing wound on his stomach. Despite the fact that there was no blood on his white armored jacket, the tears on the clothing suggested those were the ones he had battled in...and lost. Needless to say, he was dead.

"Andrew..." Alucard said solemnly while Kokoro sobbed quietly. Apparently, neither had knowledge that Andrew had passed on. Soma sighed loudly, his daughter wasn't in much better shape. Her once pristine blue clothing was covered in cuts, blood, and dirt. Laura however, did not seem to care. Soma felt the lump forming in his throat seeing his daughter in this pitiful state.

"You're right, now WOULD be a good time to tell them, sweetie!" Laura shouted suddenly, but happily. Soma, Alucard, and Kokoro nearly fell over. Just who was she talking to?

"Daddy, this may sound crazy but...Andrew's asked me to marry him! See?" Laura held out her arm, on it a bracelet adorned with a red stone that shone a bright crimson.

"I know it's not a traditional engagement ring but...well what was he supposed to do here? It's not like there are any Jared's around here or anything." She added with a smile.

"The crimson stone...there must be some reason she gas it...how cruel." Alucard mused quietly, both Soma and Kokoro looked at him in confusion, prompting a further explanation from him.

"This stone grants the holder control over death. Andrew only had it because it helped him control his powers. He must have given it to her for some reason, for what that reason is, I do not know." He added.

"Daddy? Are you listening?" Laura asked, still not leaving her lover's corpse alone.

"Uh yes...um, Laura? Are you...feeling okay?" Soma asked, only for his daughter to cock her head cutely to the side.

"Of course I am silly! I'm really happy now! It's all thanks to Andrew..." She said, nuzzling up to the dead man, burying her head in his cold chest.

"Yeah...a wedding in the castle does sound nice, we'll invite everyone! Andrew...you really do know what I'm thinking don't you?" Laura added, pecking the corpse on the cheek.

"Does she...think he's alive?" Kokoro asked. Everyone was thinking it, but no one really wanted to say it out loud.

"It's safe to assume so." Alucard answered, shaking his head. How this mission could have gone so horribly wrong was beyond him. But nothing could be done, as seen throughout history; Castlevania took not only the strength of those who entered but also their sanity. The three thought this was too cruel, Laura hadn't done anything to deserve such a fate, and Andrew was just a warrior trying to overcome the darkness as well. Neither deserved to have things end up the way they did, but at least Andrew had passed on. Laura, however, was left to cope with the pain of losing her loved one. The fact that she had completely sired over didn't help, unless someone ended her, she would spend eternity exchanging sweet nothings with the body of the man she loved. Soma, knowing that he couldn't watch this for much longer, began to walk towards his daughter.

"Laura..." He said quietly. His daughter didn't seem to notice, for she was still embracing what was left of Andrew. The look on her face was one of pure bliss, unfortunately, the circumstances surrounding this bliss were as impure as they could be. It took a minute, but Laura finally responded to him.

"Thanks daddy...for keeping me safe until I met Andrew. You two are my heroes. Now you and mommy have more time for each other!" She said happily, then she turned her back to Soma, facing the corpse once again. This might have been for the best, because Soma couldn't hold back his tears anymore.

"That's right silly! You're my hero...you saved my life..." Laura added, eventually kissing Andrew on his cold lips. Soma couldn't take it anymore, he raised his sword above his head. Kokoro began to cry into Alucard's chest, with him being unable to do anything save try and comfort the poor Belmont. They knew what was coming next, and it wasn't pretty.

"Don't worry, daddy. Even though Andrew's with me now, I'm still your little girl...I love you, daddy...and I always will." Laura said quietly, back still turned to Soma. He was still sobbing, but Soma managed to choke out a few words of his own.

"I-I love you too, sweetie, I'll always love you..." And with that, he swung his sword down with full force.

"_WAAAH! MOMMY! DADDY!" Laura screamed from the backyard. Soma jumped up from the table and ran outside to find his daughter screaming in pain._

"_What's wrong, Laura? Are you hurt?" He panicked, holding his young daughter in his arms._

"_A b-b-bee stung me...! WAAH!" Laura cried, pointing to a red mark on her arm. Soma sighed in relief, he thought something really bad happened. He was glad to see that he didn't have to take her to the emergency room or something._

"_Alright, let's get you inside first, young lady." He said, bringing Laura into the kitchen. He searched through a few drawers until he found a pack of Scooby-Doo band-aids. After applying some iodine to the beesting, which got Laura to scream even louder, Soma tried to cheer up his young child._

"_Ruh-roh, Rat's a big boo-boo!" He said, trying his best to imitate the cartoon canine. This got Laura to giggle, though tears were still running down her face._

"_Rit's ralright, reven grown-ups cry rometimes." He teased, getting Laura to laugh even more. It's a good thing Scooby was around even when he was a kid, so imitating him wasn't hard._

"_There! All better!" He said, hugging Laura after putting on the band-aid._

"_Thanks Daddy." She said, giving her dad a hug, then she got quiet._

"_I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you worried for me." She added, Soma laughed and patted her on the head. _

"_It's alright sweetie, daddies are supposed to worry about their kids." He replied with a smile on his face._

"_But what about when I'm grown up?" Laura asked, wide eyes shining brightly._

"_It doesn't matter how grown up you get, you're still gonna be my little girl. Now c'mon, let's get mommy and we can all go to McDonalds for you being such a brave young lady." Soma suggested, earning him a hug from his daughter. Soma smiled inwardly, hoping this sort of thing would never end._

* * *

><p>Blitz: Poor Soma! I'm not gonna lie, I kinda got a little depressed writing this one. I wasn't really sure if the flashback scenes at the beginning and end were enough to get any emotion out of anyone, but I thought it was a nice touch.<p>

Paranoia: WAAAH! THIS IS TOO SAD!

Zephhyr: -sniff- ...no kidding...

Blitz: You two still here? Geez, find something else to do! Zephyr! How about you stop time so my day off doesn't end anytime soon. And Paranoia, why don't you go scare my ex girlfriend or something? Geez...anyway reviews are always helpful, but I get the feeling I'm uploading chapters way too quickly. I'll take more time on my next stories, this one is just my debut piece.


	13. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** Castlevania belongs to Konami, therefore I don't own it. But if I decide to work for Konami, and eventually pull some old Seto Kaiba stuff on them, THEN I'd own it, but until that day...

Laura: You really need some help...

Evil never truly dies

Laura continued to cry over Andrew's corpse. She couldn't believe how things ended up; being forced to fight the one she loves and eventually ending his life was not fun at all, and the voice she heard during the fight. Graham's voice rang out in battle while Laura was near defeat, after Andrew abandoned his humanity for power. When she heard this voice her power was overcome by an evil presence. It was as if Graham took control of her for that one moment. And in that moment, the darkened spear that shot from her palm stabbed Andrew in his chest, ending the fight. Despite his overwhelming power, a fatal wound to the heart was enough to stop him. Laura thought back to how the fight began in the first place, Andrew had called her to the clock tower to explain something about a seal that only she could break. The problem was that, in order to reach the seal, Laura would have to travel through a cursed area of the castle that drained the life of those who entered. Andrew went on to explain that he was able to traverse the cursed place because his soul was infused with the soul of Death. And that's where the impasse came into play, in order for Laura to go through, she would have to kill Andrew and take his soul. Laura, of course, refused; she developed feelings for her partner, and couldn't find it in her to hurt him. Andrew, despite having the same feelings, forced her hand. He attacked her in hopes she would fight back, and when she wouldn't he activated his full power, throwing away any humanity he had inside of him. Laura tried to fight back, but Andrew was too strong. That's when it happened, and that's when Laura killed him. With his dying breaths, Andrew told her that her eyes changed back to blue, for they had been red because of the vampirism. He also mentioned that he loved her, before his soul left his body, and entered hers. He also gave her the bracelet he was wearing. It was the crimson stone, given to him by Arikado to help control his powers. He said it would keep Laura safe, but died before he could explain how.

Laura felt a surge of darkness consuming her all of a sudden. Darkness was all around her, and it tried to enter her body. Voices rang out in her head, similar to how Graham's did.

"_Master...hear my voice..."_

"_You're the new dark lord now..."_

"_Take your rightful place upon the throne..."_

"_You're no longer human...you have no place amongst them!"_

"_Accept it, you're our master..."_ Were some of the things they screamed in her head.

"Stop...please..." She begged, holding her own head. But the voices wouldn't stop. Then she looked down at the talisman she was wearing. She was instantly reminded that she had people to return to. Her parents, Kokoro, Boneson and Justice...and she needed to explain what happened to Andrew to Mr. Arikado and Andrew's twin sister, Amy.

"SHUT UP!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, and almost immediately, the voices calmed themselves. But she still felt darkness within her, she staggered over to a nearby fountain to splash some cold water on her face. After she looked at her reflection in the water she nearly cried out. She was closer to becoming a vampire more than ever. While her eyes had not turned back to red, she noticed her fangs had grown longer, and her skin was now a ghastly white.

"This can't be happening...why does this need to happen...? What am I supposed to do?" Laura shouted. She glanced over to Andrew's corpse, still crying over his death. But she remembered the reason she had to fight him to begin with. She needed his soul to traverse whatever area he warned her about. Laura looked over to the doorway, she was told that there wasn't any immediate danger within those halls, but she should be careful anyway. Eventually, she got her bearings, and ventured into the unknown.

Laura was immediately overwhelmed by some type of pressure, it was the same pressure she felt when she fought Andrew, the air grew heavy and it became tough to walk. But, at least with Andrew's power within her, she didn't feel herself dying. That in mind, she braved through the death land. There were little problems, this place was only creepy, if anything. There were corpses hanging from the ceiling, and a few even jumped out to attack Laura. This shocked her, but she managed to slice them up using her whip rapier, 'Nebula', screaming the whole time.

"That was just WRONG!" She shouted, that's when she got the idea to slice any of the hanging bodies she came across. That didn't have to do with why she was there to begin with, it's just when the first one jumped out at her she almost...you know. So to prevent any accidents she got rid of the source of the problem.

Anyway, Laura eventually came to the seal that blocked the final door. She recognized it as the same type that she broke to enter Castlevania in the first place.

"If I remember right..I just place my hand on it...like so!" And when her hand touched the door, the seal shattered, and the door opened.

"What kind of place...?" Laura asked herself as she looked around. The room was nothing like the one's she previously went through. While those rooms were desolate torture chambers that smelled of decaying flesh, this room was fancy that smelled like fine wine.

"What the heck am I supposed to do here?" She muttered, taking further steps into the nice room. She jumped when she heard the doors slam behind her. Before she had a chance to turn around she felt somewhat faint. Laura fell to her knees as the voices came back, but they weren't saying anything Laura could understand, instead it sounded like they were leaving her. When she looked in front of her she noticed the darkness that was surrounding her was congregating to the center of the room. By the time the ordeal had ended, Laura noticed her skin was a healthy tone again, and that her fangs were gone.

"Woo-Hoo! I'm not a vampire! I'm not a vampire...ohh...what's that?" She jumped up and sang before turning her attention to the center of the room. The darkness that once inhabited her was taking form, a tall human shape to be exact. When the darkness dissipated a tall man stood before Laura.

"After so many decades, I am finally given flesh once again!" He boomed, silver hair flowing madly over his pale face.

"Um...mister?" Laura asked, though she was so quiet the man didn't even notice her.

"At last, I can resume my vengeance against mankind!" He continued, not noticing the girl in front of him.

"Um, sir?" Laura tried again, but to no avail.

"And soon, I will take vengeance against God Himself!" The man shouted, laughing maniacally.

"SIR!" Laura shouted, even louder than the man that stood before her. The man jumped, shocked by this sudden outburst.

"Oh...um, who are you?" He asked, finally taking notice of the girl.

"I'm Laura Cruz! Who are you?" She asked angrily, veins popping out of her head.

"I'm the Lord of Darkness, the-"

"Look, before you go any longer down whatever list you have, just give me your name, pal." Laura interrupted the man, who scowled at her before speaking again.

"I'm Dracula." He said finally.

"Ok, Mr. Drac...u...la...oh shit..." Laura said as she realized the gravity of the situation. Dracula glared at the young girl, then pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Look, normally I would offer a young lady to become my lady of darkness...but you seem like a pain, get the fuck out of my throne room." He growled, pissing Laura off.

"Your words are as empty as your soul! Mankind ill needs a lord of darkness such as yourself!" She shouted, pointing her weapon at the vampire king. Dracula sighed.

"Really? I'm going to have to say this shit again? Fine...What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk, have at you!" He shouted, then realized something was missing. He thought for a second, then it hit him. A wine glass materialized in his hand, then he threw it at Laura's feet.

"Hey! These are nice shoes!" She shouted, then before she jumped up to fight Dracula, she needed to know something.

"How are you even here?" She asked in shock. According to the books, Dracula was destroyed PERMENANTLY in 1999 by Julius Belmont.

"Oh, that's simple, I hid and absorbed power. Mainly from Graham, your father, and yourself young lady." He explained, Laura shuddered at the idea of having Dracula's soul within her.

"That's pretty...anticlimactic, you know." She complained to the lord of darkness, who growled in return.

"Oh I'm SO sorry that after centuries of what you youngsters call 'epic battles' I couldn't come up with anything better this time around. My SINCEREST apologies!" He yelled sarcastically, but something seemed off to the dark lord. There was something else missing, then he looked at Laura's arm.

"Hey! That's MY crimson stone!" He added loudly. Laura backed away slowly.

"No, this is all I have left to remember him by! You can't have Andrew's memento!" She cried, forgetting that she could fight back. Dracula thought back for a moment, to how the loves of his life perished before their times. Once was by the hand of illness, and the other by the hands of mankind. He also thought back to his old friend, Leon Belmont, and how he lost the love of his life as well. Dracula wondered if he could add insult to injury to Laura without regret. But then he remembered that he was the lord of darkness, and promptly thought 'fuck that' to himself.

"Give it here, girl!" He demanded, then he showed Laura a bit of his power. He made the air in the room go heavy (wow that seems to happen a lot, it's like Bleach or something), forcing Laura to fall down.

"Now, I'll say it onc- OW!" He cried, as Laura used her Nebula whip rapier to stab him in the cheek.

"You little brat! That's it, time to die!" He shouted as he began chanting some spell. Laura did everything she could to hurt Dracula as he chanted whatever spell he was preparing, but no attack did any noticeable damage.

"Your life ends here! Demonic Meggido!" He shouted as an overwhelming darkness filled the room. Laura could feel pain unlike any she had felt before, it felt like her flesh was on fire and was being torn from her bones. She was unable to stand any longer, and soon she blacked out.

"_Get up."_ A voice rang out in Laura's mind.

"_Are you deaf or something? Get up! You've got things to do!"_ It shouted, and Laura slowly opened her eyes. She was surrounded by light, with a shadowy figure standing above her. But this figure wasn't cruel, instead, it felt gentle.

"What happened?" Laura asked, not getting up yet.

"_You got knocked out, good thing you woke up...I was considering slapping you across the face, but let's be glad it didn't come to that."_ The voice said, patting Laura on the head. She got annoyed, but her smile wouldn't give that away.

"And who might you be?" She asked the figure.

"_It's obvious, isn't it? It ain't?"_ It asked before helping Laura up.

"_Maybe this'll remind you."_ It added before embracing her, giving her a passionate kiss. When the man broke the kiss Laura smiled brightly.

"Andrew..." She said happily.

"_Yeah, do you know why I'm here?"_ Andrew asked, taking a few steps back. He was a far cry from how he normally looked; his somewhat wild hair was completely straight even though it was still in it's ponytail. He wore a white suit with a black undershirt and a white tie. Even his face was somewhat different. Instead of having a fiery look on his face, he looked more gentle and calm than ever. Laura couldn't help but laugh at this drastic change in appearance.

"Wow, looks like someone dressed you up or something!" She joked, with Andrew laughing as well.

"_Ha ha, if I weren't here for a reason I'd be taking shots at you too, sweetie."_ He replied, Laura figured that his sense of humor hadn't changed, and she was a little happy about that.

"But I was fighting Dracula...what's going on here?" She asked, trying desperately to make sense of things.

"_I'll explain, you know all of that darkness that inhabited your soul is gone now, right? After all, your vampirism is no more."_ Andrew said, with Laura nodding in response, the universal sign for 'I get it.'

"_Well that darkness was almost all of the souls you collected. Dracula took the power that was originally his for himself, leaving you with next to nothing. Right now, you're basically what you were before this mess started."_ Laura went wide-eyed; All of her powers were gone? What was she supposed to do now?

"So basically...I'm powerless?" She muttered, losing confidence in herself.

"_Don't be stupid...I said 'almost' all of the souls you collected were gone, but you still have one, mine."_ Andrew replied, hoping that would cheer Laura up. She looked at him with hope in her eyes.

"_That bracelet gives you control over death, my very soul and power. If it weren't for that, I'd probably be stuck with the creepy old guy you're fighting...and that would suck."_ He added, then he walked over to Laura and put his hand on her shoulder. He looked at her with a serious look on his face, then began to speak again, this time with conviction in his face.

"_So don't give in so easily, there's way too many people counting on you right now."_ And when he said that, Laura thought back to all of the people who unknowingly have their futures riding on her shoulders. Her Mother and Father, Kokoro, Boneson and Justice, Ms. Belnades, Mr. Arikado, and everyone else in the world. And even Andrew, who was doing all he could to encourage her from beyond the grave. Laura smiled and nodded, with a renewed faith in herself in her eyes.

"_Good, you're not gonna lose here...nah...WE'RE not gonna lose here, I'll be with you all the way. You ready?"_ Andrew asked before putting his hand up for a high five.

"Yeah, let's do this!" Laura responded, slapping Andrew's hand. Then everything went white. When Laura opened her eyes she was on the ground in the throne room, with Dracula standing above her.

"Weakling, though what could be expected of a mere human?" He said aloud, the gasped when he saw Laura stand up under her own power.

"Who are you calling weak...? You sorry excuse for a vampire." She said with confidence as she stood up straight, seemingly unaffected by Dracula's attack.

"How? No one can survive such an attack!" He shouted, Laura shook her head before responding.

"I've got way too much riding on this fight right now. Round two, let's go Drac." She taunted, raising her weapon. Dracula growled, never had anyone stood against Demonic Meggido and lived to speak of it, not even a Belmont. But he was the dark lord, he couldn't let some girl defeat him.

"Fall before your ruler!" He shouted as he waved his cape open. Three fireballs whizzed towards Laura. She smiled and hit them with her whip, making them useless. She took this chance to jump at Dracula and whip him in the neck, inflicting a decent amount of damage.

"You little!" Dracula shouted before disappearing in a ray of light. Laura looked around in shock, unaware that Dracula was able to teleport. He appeared behind her and lifted his cape once more, this time firing a black meteor at her, sending the girl flying towards the wall, the attack hitting it's mark. Laura hit the wall hard, immense pain shot through her backside as she slid down to the ground. She noticed that she had a hard time getting up, maybe she had a broken back?

"_I figured it would be tough, but I'm going to back you up now. Stay strong, Laura."_ Andrew's voice came from deep within Laura's soul, and she felt a warm feeling come over her. Laura noticed she didn't feel any pain anymore, and an immense amount of strength enveloped her.

"Not good enough, Dracula!" She shouted. 'Andrew, you really are here, aren't you?' She thought to herself, knowing that the strength wasn't just hers.

"_How about using a bit more of my power? Follow my lead."_ Andrew's voice instructed, Laura knew to stand completely still and point her palms at the ground, eyes closed.

"_Light and shadows, I call upon thee."_ He began a chant, Laura never heard those words used in that context before, but somehow, she knew what to say nest.

"Judgment of the angels and damned, come forth."

"_Accept the terms of our contract."_

"Let all that is unholy combine with the light." While the two were chanting, Dracula was nearly frozen, for a circle of light formed around Laura. He found it difficult to remain standing, much less retaliate.

"Damn...you!"

"_Allow this vessel to carry out your divine will."_

"Struggle against these holy chains..." The light grew even brighter. Laura opened her eyes and held a look of determination within them.

"Shining Bind!" She shouted as the circle of light emanated rays of light around her, she even saw angel feathers. She also felt herself be lifted into the air, and she looked down to find Dracula writhing in pain.

"_We're almost there, just one more!"_ Andrew shouted from within.

"Right!" Laura responded, letting her companion take the lead again.

"_I who stand in the full light of the heavens command thee, who openeth the gates of hell, come forth divine lightning!" _Another circle surrounded the room, this time with lightning crackling here and there.

"It ends here! Indignation!" Laura shouted. Soon, light was circling the area directly above Dracula.

"This...this can't be happening!" He shouted, but much to his chagrin, it was. A bolt of lightning formed above his head, and within seconds it crashed down on the vampire lord. Laura sighed, she had a feeling this was the end.

"It matters not...I will return..." Dracula sputtered out before bursting into flames.

"Yeah...and someone'll take you down again...but it won't be me." Laura sighed before falling over, losing consciousness before she hit the floor.

"_You did good Laura, now let's get you out of here before this place crumbles..."_ Andrew whispered before his voice faded.

* * *

><p>Blitz: There it is, the (barely) epic conclusion to Laura and friend's adventure in Castlevania! But we aren't done yet, not by a long shot. See, I'm not a fan of leaving loose ends, so there are gonna be a few more chapters tying things together. What happened to the others? How is Laura getting out of there? Assuming she does at all?<p>

Anyway, a shout out to those who are still reading this debut piece of mine. I know it's not as thrilling as some of the stories here, but we all gotta start someway, right? Thank you LateNightSlacker for your review on what you were able to read so far, and let me say I love your Castlevania works too! Soma is such a little punk in your eyes, huh? And your depiction of Sara left me rolling, no lie, I actually fell out of my seat when I first read her dialogue.

I know I threw in some 'Tales of' moves in there, I'm a big fan of that series actually. In fact; that's where Laura and Andrew came from! I was messing with the character creation thingy in Radiant Mythology 2 (cuz apparently I can read enough Japanese to beat the game), and I settled on some characters I liked. Laura is a Priestess in one file (or magic knight, for usage of shining bind), and Andrew became my Great Swordsman in another. (Though Indignation is a mage based mystic arte). I have a few other OC's too, but I liked those two the best, but I MIGHT do a fic featuring all of them in the Radiant Mythology section here.

But I digress; Thanks to everyone who's reading this. We're hitting the final stretch, so hang with me for a bit longer. You guys rule, as always, reviews are appreciated. Thanks again for sticking with me, I hope you guys are having as much with this as I am...and I'm talking too much again...so Later!

Zephyr: I kinda liked this chapter actually, this dude doubts himself too much.

Paranoia: No kidding.

Blitz: I heard that.


	14. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything except for this plot...yeah I'm running out of witty things to say here

Peaceful ends

Laura passed out immediately after defeating Dracula, before she blacked out she could have sworn she heard two things. The first being the castle, it was beginning to crumble, from what she could hear at least. The second was Andrew's voice, saying that they needed to get her out of there. But before she could make sense of anything, she felt herself fall asleep. Common sense would tell you that was the end, but this was not so.

"Laura! Please...get up!" A voice called out, not Andrew's, but the voice of someone who cared about her just the same. Laura weakly opened her eyes to find herself in the arms of her mother, who smiled when she finally woke up.

"Thank Goodness! When you collapsed like that...I didn't know what to think! Don't scare me like that!" Mina cried, nearly squeezing the life out of her daughter. Laura embraced her mother, happy to see her, then she took note of her surroundings. They were in the field next to Castlevania, or rather, where Castlevania used to be. The only sign that the demonic structure had even been there was the rubble that covered the road. She looked around and saw that , along with her mother; her father, Kokoro, Mr. Arikado, an older gentleman, and a siberian husky were standing around her. But she was confused, the last thing she remembered was her blacking out right after fighting Dracula. 'How did I get out here? Did you do this, Andrew?' She thought to herself.

"It is good to see you are alright, Lady Laura." The older man said, snapping her back to reality.

"Boneson! You made it out? Then this big fella must be Justice!" Laura exclaimed happily, hugging the dog. Mina, Soma, and Arikado all looked at each other and laughed. Kokoro filled them in on where that nickname came from, but to hear it now was too funny. Boneson laughed as well, not caring that he wasn't a skeleton butler anymore.

"I suppose that name will stick until my time." He said happily while Laura played with Justice. Kokoro joined in on the fun too, happy to finally be done with Castlevania.

"Laura, what happened in there? We received reports of the castle appearing on our end, but by the time we got here the castle was all but gone." Arikado asked, finally getting back to business.

"Well it started when I had to break this seal, it was the same as when we first came here. It needed my power to be unlocked. When I walked in all of the dark power, well most of it, escaped me and gathered in the center of the room. It turned into Dracula, but I was able to beat him." Arikado and Kokoro gasped, Dracula came back?

"So you're saying...Dracula has returned?" He asked, and when Laura nodded both he and Kokoro began to complain like no tomorrow.

"Aww, can't he just stay dead?" Kokoro yelled, she could swear she felt to anguish of her ancestors through the Vampire Killer. In fact, up in heaven, the previous Belmonts were none to happy with the news.

"Oh come on...!" Trevor Belmont cried, banging his head against a nearby wall.

"God dammit!" Leon Belmont yelled, then he remembered where he was.

"Sorry! Sorry!" He added before a lightning bolt of judgment had a chance to zap him. Simon Belmont groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, not saying anything. Richter Belmont, being the most energetic of the Belmonts, fell to the ground and began to throw a temper tantrum. Juste Belmont shrugged and got back to his tea, being the only one who realized that none of them in particular had to deal with the newly reborn dark lord.

'Yep...they aren't very happy...' Kokoro thought to herself as she held the ancestral whip.

"Great...and just when I thought all I had to do was watch over your family...just my rotten, immortal, luck..." Arikado sighed.

"But he didn't seem so tough! ...Of course...I had Andrew helping me..." Laura said quietly, getting everyone to calm down somehow.

"Where is he, anyway? I wanted to thank him for looking out for you." Soma asked, when Laura began sobbing he knew what had happened.

"So...you're saying..." Kokoro began, but stopped when she saw the look on Soma's face.

"He...I...-sob-...he helped me in the final battle, on the inside...I felt his power coursing through me while I fought Dracula..." Laura explained, everyone was confused at this point, Andrew helped from within? What did that mean? When Laura saw the look on everyone's faces she began to explain even further.

"In order to get to the seal leading to Dracula's throne room...I had to go through this place that drained the life of any living thing that entered. Andrew checked out the place first though, and he could get through just fine...but then he said that it wasn't him, but his soul that enabled this..." Laura's eyes began to water again, Justice whined, snapping her back to reality.

"He said that...in order -sniff- to get through I had to...-sob-...take his soul with my power. He wanted me to...to...kill him!" She choked out before crying again. Everyone looked at her in shock, but no one said anything. Kokoro held her friend close, which calmed her down a bit.

"I didn't want to! There had to have been some other way! But then he attacked me and...then he did this weird thing." She explained, Arikado grimaced, he knew exactly what Andrew did, and he did not approve at all. He eventually came to the conclusion that in needed to be done, and motioned for Laura to continue.

"And when I was at the end of my rope...that's when...I'm so sorry! Mr. Arikado...Andrew...I'm so so sorry! Why did this have to happen? We were so happy together..." She continued before breaking down again. Mina and Kokoro tended to Laura while Soma brought Arikado to the side.

"How are you holding up? I'm really sorry." He said solemnly, offering his condolences. Arikado shook his head before speaking.

"It is not your fault, or hers. Andrew went into this mission knowing full well he might not make it out alive, I'm certain he has no regrets." He said coldly.

"So you aren't upset at all?"

"Don't misunderstand...I never said that I wouldn't miss him. Raising him and his twin sister has been an enjoyable experience, I had hoped it wouldn't come to this."

"Ah, sorry. Would you like us to be around when you tell Andrew's sister?" Soma asked.

"I imagine Laura will want to be there, and perhaps Kokoro, but I must ask that the rest of you stay behind on this matter. Amy is still very weak, even though her condition is showing rapid improvement." Arikado went on to explain that when Amy began to recover he suspected that something happened to Andrew. He knew all along that Andrew's power was the cause of Amy's illness, but decided it was best to keep this information secret from the siblings. He went on to say that when Amy suddenly was able to move about on her own he noticed the dark energy surrounding her soul had dissipated, this energy being the ongoing cause of her troubles. This energy was similar to Andrew's own energy, so it was ironic in a way.

"To put it bluntly, Amy could only recover because Andrew died to begin with. If Andrew had known, he would have put an end to his own life anyway. I only hope he can find it in him to forgive me for keeping this from him for so long." Arikado concluded. He looked over at the others, Laura had finally calmed down while Mina and the others were helping her to her feet. He turned back to Soma with a solemn look on his face.

"I ask that you keep this information between us, I've every intention to tell everyone in due time, but now is not that time." Soma nodded and shook Arikado's hand before the two returned to the others.

There were a few things everyone had to take care of after the group left where Castlevania used to be. Kokoro, still being severely injured, needed to go to the hospital. Boneson, Justice, and Arikado needed to go back to the agency. The older man and his dog needed to have tests run on them before they could be released. Normal humans should not be exposed to dark energies, especially someone at Mr. Caesar's age. Eventually, the Cruz family returned to their home, with Laura out cold in the backseat. Soma and Mina glanced at her then smiled, happy to have their daughter back.

"Alright, let's get you upstairs, young lady." Soma said quietly, lifting Laura up from her seat. He noted that she had grown thinner since she first entered Castlevania, maybe he'll ease up on her about getting a job. Then, when he took Laura into her room with Mina, he shook that thought from his head. Mainly because he nearly tripped on a controller cord. He nearly forgot how much money his daughter's hobbies cost him, and now that she was home, she was probably going to pick up right where she left off.

"Goodnight, sweetie...great to have you back." He said, setting her down on the bed. Laura's light snoring suggested that she was done for the night, if not several nights. Soma and Mina retreated to their own room, each feeling as if the weight of the world was lifted from each of their shoulders.

"Man, that was a close call..." Soma sighed, falling onto the bed.

"Yeah, I'm glad Laura's okay." Mina replied, sitting next to her husband, running her fingers through his hair.

"You know what? There should really be some sort of divine law that prevents things like this happening to people on a semi-regular basis." Soma joked.

"Well let's just be glad everything turned out okay, I mean...as well as they could have." Mina replied, suddenly going quiet. Soma knew immediately knew what she was talking about.

"Laura's gonna be pretty upset about that for a while, huh? I didn't gather much from what she said but...seemed like she was pretty close to Andrew." He said quietly.

"She'll be okay, now let's just lie back and be happy everything's back to normal." Mina said before falling asleep, Soma pecked her on the cheek before following suit. 'Normal, well normal compared to what just happened, I guess' he thought to himself, chuckling a little.

The next day Laura woke up to find herself back in her own room. She jumped up and looked around, thinking that everything that happened was a bad dream. But when she looked down and saw herself in the clothes she fought in she knew that there was no such hope.

"Oh yeah...I said I was going to visit Kokoro today." She thought out loud. After a quick shower (which felt like heaven, Castlevania didn't have the best hot water heater around), Laura went to change into more regular clothing. Noticing that her normal clothes were a little loose, she went with a pink and silver blouse she got in Castlevania (details in 'soul guide for dummies') and blue shorts. After letting her parents know she was leaving for the day she went on over to the hospital.

"I'm here to see Kokoro Belmont?" She asked the nurse.

"Room 309, the stairs are that way."

"Thanks." When Laura came to said room she heard a lot of TV noises going on and off. She sighed in relief. 'I guess she's feeling a bit better...' When she walked in she found a very pissed off Kokoro lying on the bed. There were flowers, a gift basket, and several get well cards on the table.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, Kokoro groaned in response.

"I. Am. So. Bored. There is NOTHING on TV, and I can't even go to the store without someone complaining and shoving me back in this prison!" She added, before flipping through the TV channels again.

"Well you DID get stabbed in the stomach, I'm just glad they don't have to do major surgery or anything like that." Laura laughed before going through the gift basket.

"Hey! Look at the cute stuffed puppy, it looks like Justice!" She added, hugging the stuffed dog.

"Yeah, that one was from Boneson...I mean...Mr. Caesar. The one next to it is from Mr. Arikado." Kokoro responded before pointing to another gift basket. This one had a few candies in it and a book. 'Yeah, this is pretty much what I expected' Laura thought when she saw the title of the book. 'How to become more organized for dummies'

"He's still pretty mad I forgot my mission overview." She added, giving up on finding anything on basic cable.

"Sorry I didn't bring you anything..." Laura apologized sadly, which got her friend to laugh.

"No worries, as tired as you looked yesterday, I'm just glad you were able to get out of bed to come visit...though bring me some DVD's and a portable player next time if you can." She replied, winking jokingly.

"Ha ha, I'm glad you're doing alright, so when are you getting out?" Laura asked.

"In about a week or two, though I'm not allowed to go back to my training for at least 3 months." Kokoro groaned.

"What am I going to do for 3 months? Can't they cut me some slack?" She added.

"Well you could hang out with me?" Laura asked. Kokoro nodded in agreement before speaking again.

"So where are you headed after this? Visiting hours are almost over, but it's still pretty early." She asked. Laura suddenly looked towards the ground and sighed.

"I'm gonna head over to Mr. Arikado's, he said he would come pick me up in a little bit." She replied solemnly, Kokoro knew why she was going; she planned to tell Andrew's sister what happened to her brother and probably apologize for what happened.

"I hope this goes well." Laura added, staring at the crimson stone bracelet Andrew gave her before he died.

"It should, Mr. Arikado wouldn't let you do this otherwise, don't worry." Kokoro said reassuringly, knowing that the ordeal wasn't going to be easy for her. She initially intended to go along with Laura, but her injuries kept her bedridden, so she could only pray that things don't end badly.

"Visiting hours are over, Miss Belmont? It's time for your x-ray." A nurse informed the two.

"Well it beats sitting in here all day, I'll catch you later, Laura." Kokoro said, Laura nodded and went outside. Outside, as previously agreed on earlier, Arikado waited for Laura in his black Mustang. The ride to his home was...not as quiet as Arikado hoped.

"Cool! This thing has a camera so you can see behind you?"

"How much longer until we get there?"

"So how many co-workers have crushes on you?" These were the sort of questions Laura asked the poor dhampir, which he tried so very hard to not snap at.

'This has been a painful half an hour' He thought, then wondered where he heard that before as a feeling of deja vu hit him. When the two finally rolled into the driveway Laura was a little taken aback by how normal Arikado's house looked. It was a big house, but it wasn't mansion big, more like 'We live in a nice suburban neighborhood' type of big. It was even a little like her own house.

"Amy should be waiting for us downstairs by now, she's had her medicine already so do not fret over her current condition." Arikado stated bluntly before unlocking the door. The inside of the house was just as normal as the outside, there was a living room with a flat screen TV and a few chairs. There was a coffee table in there as well, a coat rack by the door, even a pretty little potted plant on the table near the doorway.

"Nice place!" Laura exclaimed happily.

"Thank you! Dad here let me do some of the decorating, though it took a little convincing at first." A feminine voice responded. Laura jumped and looked towards the kitchen. A rather thin, but still somehow pretty, girl was preparing what looked like a grilled cheese sandwich.

"I'm Amy, by the way, you're Laura right?" She asked before sitting down in the living room. Arikado motioned for Laura to take a seat, before doing the same himself.

"Thanks, it's nice to meet you too." Laura said quietly, feeling reasonably uncomfortable.

"I already know what happened to my brother, Laura...it wasn't your fault..." Amy said, blue eyes watering. Tears eventually found their way down her face and onto her green pajamas. Laura stood up to give her a hug, which Amy happily accepted. Arikado knew when he wasn't needed in a situation, and after that display, he knew the two would be fine. He let the two know he was going to be in his office before leaving them.

"I'm really sorry...I wanted to tell you myself though..." Laura said in between sobs, still holding Amy.

"Dad told me, I was really mad at first, but then he told me he gave you his bracelet afterwards...that's when I knew that it wasn't your fault." Amy replied quietly.

"This was really important to him, huh?" Laura asked.

"...yeah." Another quiet response.

"Do you want it? He was your brother, you should have it." Laura offered, but before she could remove the bracelet Amy stopped her.

"No, he gave it to you. I have an entire room full of mementos of him, but you only have that. It sounds like he really liked you, I'd be disrespecting his memory if I took that from you." She explained, then got a smile on her face.

"Now that I think about it, you can see some of the things he has. Wanna check out his room? I rarely got to go in there myself soo..." Laura cheered up immediately, any chance to be nosy was not going to be passed up. Especially seeing how the room belonged to her late boyfriend anyway. Were he still alive, she would have ended up there anyway.

"I like how you think!" Laura chirped up before following Amy up the stairs. They came to a door with an MMA poster on it, Laura began to laugh uncontrollably when she saw that.

"Wow, really?" She managed to choke out through her laughter. Amy smiled and nodded before opening the door. The first thing Laura noticed was the amount of boxes that were on the floor.

"Those were the things Kokoro and Mr. Caesar brought back from Castlevania, just the things he had with him." Amy explained. Laura nodded as she looked through the boxes. They were filled with some of his armor, spare items, and a few more personal things he kept with him like his Mp3 player and a stack of cards he liked to play with. She was more interested in the rest of the room though. One quick look told her that Andrew was probably a complete slob. DVDs were all over the floor along with some of his clothes. A few other things were on the floor too like a few video games (Laura noted that they had similar taste in games, which made her pretty happy), some workout equipment, shoe boxes full of trading cards, and a sketchpad.

'Let's see what he liked to draw...' Laura thought to herself before going through it. There were drawings ranging from landscapes to anime style portraits. She was a little confused to find the last page ripped out.

"Yeah, look up there." Amy sighed as she pointed to the wall. There, stuck to a dartboard, was a portrait of a girl. She had reddish brown hair and green eyes. She was really pretty, so Laura got a little upset.

"Who's she?" She asked with just the slightest hint of anger in her voice.

"Casey, his ex girlfriend." Laura fumed a little when she heard this, but upon closer inspection of the picture she noticed little holes in it, only a few though.

"Andrew didn't have very good aim, in case you were wondering." Amy explained, turning Laura's attention to some darts in the wall AROUND the dartboard.

"Oh, wow!" Laura said before falling over in a fit of laughter, then thought about why the picture was even on the dartboard to begin with.

"Yeah, you don't wanna know." Amy said before Laura could even ask about it. While the two were talking Laura couldn't help but notice how alike Amy and her late brother were. Amy was constantly cracking jokes while at the same time being serious. She also got frustrated like Andrew did when she forgot that she left something in the oven. After she pulled out the piece of charcoal out that was once food she sniffed it and said 'It's still good' while shrugging. Apparently the siblings shared cooking skills as well as looks. Amy was basically a female version of Andrew with longer hair, but their facial features were nearly the same. Laura felt her head hurt when she wondered if it was Amy who looked a lot like Andrew, or Andrew who looked a lot like Amy. Before her head could explode Amy suggested something that got both girls to grin evilly.

"Wanna go bug my dad?" She asked in as devious a tone as a frail girl could muster. Laura laughed, then agreed before she passed out from laughing to hard.

"Good, because I was thinking he should loosen up sometimes. Now pay attention; there's only two times I've ever seen him get really mad. One time was when Andrew and I were playing baseball when we were kids. I hit a homer right into the windshield of his car...which, I'll admit, we kinda deserved the punishment we got for that." Laura laughed as she pictured a young pair of twins getting spankings.

"It wasn't funny...at the time, anyway the second time was when I put ice cream in his coffee." Amy continued, and when she saw the confused look on Laura's face, she spoke up again.

"I was bored! And it was fun!" She added adamantly. So the plan was set, when Arikado left his office the two would strike.

"Hey dad, you need anything while I'm up?" Amy asked as she led Laura back into the living room.

"I was just going to get a cup of coffee, no need to trouble yourself, Amy." Arikado replied. Amy scowled behind his back before Laura spoke up.

"Oh! I could get it for you?" She asked. Arikado raised an eyebrow, something wasn't quite right here.

"I was just thinking that since I'm a guest in your home it wouldn't kill me to be helpful, daddy's always saying I should be a bit more considerate." She added. Arikado thought for a second, he figured that DID sound like something Soma would say to his slightly immature daughter, he nodded and went back to his office.

"Phew! Now you get the ice cream while I get the coffee." Amy said quietly while preparing a cup. Laura nodded and went into the freezer.

"Which flavor?" She asked.

"Get the rainbow sherbert, he HATES that kind." Amy replied. After dumping a lump of the ice cream (Amy had taken extra care to get a scoop with all of the flavors in it) into the black coffee, Laura began to snicker.

"Wow, it's not even showing up! This is gonna be good!" She said quietly, in case Arikado was listening. Amy nodded and began to skip up the stairs, cup in hand. Laura followed suit, happy that Amy was cheerful despite the circumstances. When the two entered the home office Arikado was staring at his computer screen. When Laura took a closer look she was surprised to see him playing solitaire instead of doing something more productive.

"Here's your coffee, dad." Amy said stoically, handing her adoptive father the cup.

"Thank you." Arikado said before taking a sip.

'Oh man, here it comes...' Laura thought before she and Amy turned to leave.

"BLECH! What the-?" Arikado shouted, spitting out the coffee on his papers.

"AMY! LAURA!" He shouted, when Laura turned around she saw Arikado how few ever got to see him, full blown angry. He was still pale as a sheet, but the look on his face spelled 'Oh shit' to whoever he was looking at.

"Let's get out of here!" Amy shouted, laughing at the same time. Laura didn't need to think twice about following her, heck she didn't even need to think once about it. The two were out of his office faster than they could say 'Damn, he's mad!'. When the two retreated back to the living room Arikado was still fuming angry, yelling things that no one would expect him to say.

"Yeah, his coffee is one of those things Andrew learned to never mess with, after the first time I did that." Amy explained. Laura laughed along with her.

"He would probably fall out if he saw this." She said happily, then sighed when she pictured his face.

"I loved him, you know..." She added, getting Amy to calm down as well.

"Yeah, I figured. While we were in his room you looked on everything he had like it was a treasure. I'm glad he got to meet someone like you." Amy replied. The two were near tears when Arikado came down the stairs, still on his 'messed up coffee' rant.

"-and of course the coffee at work tastes like shit so-" the two heard him say as he angrily prepared a cup for himself. After one sip, he was back to his usual self.

"Laura, would you like to stay for dinner?" He asked politely, getting both girls to laugh like crazy. He raised an eyebrow in confusion before calling Soma and Mina, asking if they would like to join them.

* * *

><p>Blitz: There it is, the last official chapter of Rebirth of Sorrow. Now I say it's the last official chapter because I still have to write an epilogue. Plus I'm still gonna be uploading chapters to 'Soul guide for dummies' because every time I play dawn of sorrow and get a new soul, my mind immediately wonders how badly it could go for Soma.<p>

Soma: That explains a lot, but why do the bad things have to happen to ME when you play? I don't like your little 'tests'!

Blitz: Relax, at least you got your daughter back. Speaking of which; I originally planned for this chapter to be a LOT darker, especially the interaction between Laura and Amy. I was gonna make it one of those 'You killed my brother! I'll never forgive you!' type of things, but who can stay mad at cute little Laura?

Laura: What am I, some fluffy type of character?

Blitz: Basically; anyway, as I said earlier, this is the last official chapter, and after the epilogue that'll be it. There are still a few questions that need answering, and I intend to knock them out all at once. Thanks, R&R and all that good stuff, and look out for my Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology fic coming soon, starring Laura and Andrew, along with my other descenders! It'll be a LOT longer than this, and hopefully a lot better. It'll be another original story, because it took me forever to translate RM2 by itself, no way am I gonna mess with the storyline if I'm not even 100 percent sure I was reading the game right. I'll probably do some more Castlevania stuff too, I love this series so why not? Reviews would still be appreciated, even after this gets the little 'complete' mark over it. If you liked it, hated it, or were in between, let me know and why you feel that way. Anything (except flames of course) would be helpful, plus I like hearing from people so it's not like I'd read a review and not take what was said into consideration. Anyways, I'm out, later!


	15. Epilogue

**Disclaimer:** For the last time...I don't own anything, if I did this story probably would've been a DS game by now.

Laura: Hard to believe this is the real end...

Blitz: Never fear, you'll make some more appearances in other stories.

Soma: What about me and the others?

Blitz: Most likely, besides; you REAL characters have an entire fanbase backing you guys up, Laura and Andrew only have my messed up imagination keeping them alive.

Laura: Now I'm scared...

Epilogue

"Hot...so freaking...hot..." Laura complained, crashing on the couch in the living room. Summer wasn't exactly her favorite season, she and heat just didn't get along. Then again, she didn't get along well with any extreme temperature.

"Hey, it's not my fault the AC broke again..." Soma groaned from upstairs, the heat getting to him as well. Yes, the Cruz family was sweating it out in their own home in the middle of July with no air conditioner at all. Laura sighed, this wasn't how she wanted to spend her day off.

Laura went ahead and found herself a job, this job being an agent for the investigations agency Arikado works for. She trains alongside Kokoro and sometimes Amy (who found herself able to keep up despite formerly being sickly and frail.) so that they could handle missions without being supervised. Until then either Genya or Yoko would supervise over their missions. Mina and Soma were against this choice at first, but Mina softened up when Laura explained that she wanted be in the same line of work as Andrew (who, after about 6 or 7 months, she still missed very much). Soma still had his reservations, but when Laura brought home her first paycheck...well let's just say Soma actually got a little jealous of how much that little piece of paper was worth.

Back to Laura, today was her day off, and she wanted to spend it sleeping in and playing games. But earlier that day...

"_Hey, Laura? What are you doing today?" Kokoro called and asked._

"_Nothing really, why?" Laura asked, really thinking it was too hot to do much of anything._

"_It's movie day at work, they're showing old classics. I think this one's called 'Fast Five?'" Laura jumped up when she heard the name, Andrew mentioned that he thought the entire 'fast and the furious' series was pretty good and that he really liked them all. Laura, knowing next to nothing about cars or street life, had never seen them._

"_I'll be there, then, you already there?" She said, already trying to pick out an outfit._

"_Yeah, by the way, Mr. Arikado wanted to speak with you so could you stop by his office when you get there?"_

"_Sure, see you in a bit." And with that, Laura was out for the day._

_When she got to the agency she figured she should take care of whatever Arikado wanted to speak with her about before relaxing with the others. She walked up to his office and sighed; that was the first place she met Andrew, and found about her dark power. After gathering a bit of courage, because Arikado still kind of scared her, she knocked on the door._

"_Mr. Arikado? Are you there? It's me, Laura." She said quietly._

"_Come in." The response came quickly. So Laura walked in and took a seat across from her boss._

"_Something you wanted to see me about?" She asked. Arikado nodded before answering._

"_Correct, it concerns your escape from Castlevania; you truly cannot remember how you escaped?" He asked with a concerned tone. It was true, the time in between her beating Dracula and her waking up in Mina's arms was a complete blank. The only clue she had was that she heard Andrew's voice saying they needed to get her out of there, and that didn't say much, because he was dead anyway._

"_I see, well the reason I called you is because there might be some new information regarding that, but no one is really sure yet. I'll let you know if anything is confirmed to be fact." The stoic agent explained bluntly, Laura nodded in agreement, she was just as curious as anyone as to how she escaped despite passing out. The fact that she sustained little to no injuries was also mysterious._

"_Thank you, is that all?" She asked._

"_That and Amy was wondering if you and your family would be interested in joining us on a trip to the beach. Naturally, Kokoro has been invited as well." Arikado asked. Laura, needless to say, was confused. Mr. Arikado didn't seem like the type to take a vacation anywhere._

"_It was Amy's idea. Normally I consider rest to be just that...rest, not going to the shore." He added, apparently noticing the look on Laura's face._

"_That sounds like fun, I'll ask my parents when I get in, thank you." She replied, happy to do something during the summer._

"_You're welcome, that should be everything, enjoy the movie." And with that Laura found herself heading over to the briefing room, where the other agents rigged the projector to play movies. After enjoying the awesomeness that is Fast Five she went home, still very hot._

"So how was the movie?" Mina asked, sitting in front of the fan.

"It was really good! I didn't know they had movies like that way back..." Laura replied weakly, she wanted to join her mother in front of the fan, but was too drained to get up. Even though it was sunset, the temperature was around 98 degrees. No one was really up for doing much of anything, as they were all just trying to cool down. Needless to say, the entire Cruz family was annoyed when they heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Soma groaned from his seat in front of the TV.

"It's Arikado, I need to speak with Laura." The man replied, though his voice sounded different somehow.

"Ugh...I'll get it..." Laura complained as she got up from her seat.

"Shouldn't you change into something else?" Mina asked. Because it was so hot, everyone was wearing the lightest things they owned. Soma had on a white beater and green swim trunks. Mina had on her nightgown, much to Soma's delight. Laura settled on a blue tank top and boy shorts.

"It's too hot...I really don't care right now...I'll just ask him to look away..." Laura replied, a little vexed that Arikado would show up unannounced, on her day off no less. Mina sighed and turned her attention back to the fan, she would normally get mad at Laura for her indifference, but she was too hot to care herself. Soma would have said something, but he was on the verge of passing out, so he let it slide.

"What is it, Mr. Arikado? You could have called first..." Laura said tiredly, eyes closed. The sun was shining directly in her face, and even though it was getting dark out, she didn't want to see any light whatsoever.

"What's with you? There's a new invention called an 'air conditioner', it's really popular this time of year." He replied. Laura jumped when she heard that, that wasn't how her boss talked at all. Not to mention that was pretty casual of him to joke like that.

"What about you? It sounds like the heats gotten to your head too!" She said loudly, staring Arikado right in the face. When she saw his face, her eyes widened.

"What's the matter? Don't see too many guys, huh?" Arikado replied. Laura could only stare, the man standing before her was Arikado but...not the Arikado she was expecting. She felt her eyes water up before she said anything else, but when she did speak, she shouted so loudly that whatever energy she thought was gone came back to her in that instant, along with a smile.

"ANDREW!" She screamed, getting both of her parents to raise from their sloth like states in shock. The man before her laughed before replying.

"Man, and here I thought you were tired." He said, then patted Laura on the head.

"But yeah, it's me. Good to see you, Laura." He added. Laura couldn't contain her excitement any longer. With any energy she had left, she basically glomped him. Andrew, not expecting that, caught her but fell over on his back.

"Andrew! How is this possible? You died! Please tell me this is real and not some fever dream!" Laura shouted, hugging him on the ground.

"Y-yeah...but Laura...I can't breathe...let go for a sec..." Andrew choked out, Laura wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed with all her might, suffocating the poor man.

"That would be best, Laura. He is still somewhat weak, it would do him a service if you didn't crush his windpipes." There was the Arikado she was expecting. Soma and Mina stepped outside as well, wondering if their poor daughter was hallucinating. But it was not so, when they saw Laura hugging the life out of the guy they thought was dead, Mina immediately began to ask questions.

"How is that even possible? I mean...this has to be some sort of miracle, right?" She asked. Genya nodded before responding.

"Correct, but Andrew tells the story much better than myself. I'll let him explain himself." He replied, looking over at Andrew.

"Would you do that for us?" He asked.

"Yeah, but first...Laura?" Andrew asked nervously. Laura, still happily hugging him, looked him in the eye.

"Yeah?" She asked sweetly and cheerfully.

"Could you get off of me and change into something else...? You know...before your dad kills me?" He begged. Laura hadn't taken into account that when she jumped Andrew she was only wearing undergarments, and she was sitting on top of him in a rather...provocative position. She then looked at her dad, who was glaring daggers at Andrew. Not to mention the fact that they were outside, for the entire neighborhood to see. When all of this hit her, it REALLY hit her.

-SHRIEK!-

-SLAP!-

-SLAM!- And with that, Andrew was left rubbing his face while everyone else stood outside, wondering why Laura felt it necessary to slam the door on her way inside. Except for Soma, who was still contemplating hurting Andrew.

Eventually, everyone was sitting in the living room, with the entire family in normal clothing. Soma had chosen to throw on a white shirt over his beater, Mina put on shorts and a pink tank top. Laura went along with her pink blouse and a gray skirt. Mr. Arikado, despite the unbearable heat, wore his usual black suit. Andrew was wearing a blue and green t-shirt and blue jeans. When Laura got a closer look at him she noticed he cut his ponytail off, so his hair was still a little wild, but it wasn't as long. 'Good riddance' she thought, in her opinion it made him look girly.

"Now that we're all settled, Andrew, would you explain the circumstances concerning your...revival?" Genya asked, seemingly still in disbelief himself.

"Sure, bear with me, it gets a little complicated." Andrew began before turning his attention to Laura.

"Do you remember how when we were fighting Dracula, I lent you my power?" He asked.

"Yeah, without you I probably wouldn't have made it." Laura replied, thinking back to that day. When she felt that she was losing Andrew would surge his energy from within and guide Laura to victory.

"That's because I was partially able to take control over your body...kind of." Andrew explained, when he noticed everyone was giving him strange looks he continued.

"I know, it's confusing. It's like this; our souls were merged during that fight, and knowing that Laura trusted me, her body somehow opened up to following my commands. I'm not entirely sure how that worked myself, but I do know that she was able to use those techniques because her body let my energy flow through it." Soma nodded after hearing that.

"That makes some sense, basically what you're saying is that Laura's body recognized your soul as part of her, which gave you some control over it, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's basically what happened. Which brings me to my next point. Laura passed out after the battle, and when she lost consciousness, I was given complete control over her body. Good thing too, the entire place began to fall apart." Andrew answered, getting Laura to think back to how he said they needed to get her out of there.

'So that's how I got out...' She thought to herself before bringing her attention back to Andrew.

"And after checking to see that the others got out safely, I hightailed it out of there, and when I saw you all through Laura's eyes, I knew I did my job. You guys know the rest after that." Andrew explained.

"That answers that question, but how are you here? You didn't explain anything to me or Amy." Genya asked, trying to keep things moving.

"Well after Laura here was safe I attempted to pass on, I mean, I thought I was just as much a goner as anyone would. But for some reason I couldn't leave this Earth. So I wandered around for a little while...well more like for a few months. Anyway, blah blah blah, one day I came across a dark energy near where Castlevania used to be. I float on over there to find my body, intact, and even breathing! You said you couldn't find a corpse, right?" Andrew explained, turning to Genya.

"Right, we searched for quite a while, but came up with nothing."

"Well apparently it was hidden to anyone but me. Sure it was injured here and there, but it was perfectly usable. I eventually thought to try and enter my body and well...it worked. When I woke up again I noticed that I was of flesh and blood again. That and I was VERY sore around the chest...Laura?" He asked mockingly towards Laura, who stuck her tongue out at him in response.

"Anyway, that's when I called you. No way in HELL I was gonna walk anywhere." Andrew concluded, satisfying everyone's curiosity.

"I see, well it's good to see you're alright." Soma said happily.

"Thanks for looking after Laura." He added, remembering that he wanted to express his gratitude.

"No problem, it's not like she didn't save my skin a few times!" Andrew joked. 'But I didn't...? Whatever...' Laura thought to herself before Genya spoke up.

"I've made reservations for two at a restaurant in town-" Laura didn't give him the chance to finish.

"Great! Now you two can go out and eat while me and Andrew stay here and catch up!" She chirped up towards Soma, who looked ready to blow a gasket.

"Oh HELL no am I leaving you two in this house ALONE!" He shouted, before Mina grabbed him by the arm.

"This is great, I can't remember the last time we went out to eat!" She said, glaring at Soma. Genya grabbed his other arm.

"I've made reservations for two at an expensive restaurant. Someone's going to eat there, I don't care who. In fact, I imagine these two wish to speak about Castlevania, something that I'd rather they didn't talk about in public. Let's go, I'm sure these two will be fine." And with that, Soma was dragged from his home by his wife and friend, kicking and screaming all the way.

"But they're gonna do stuff!" He cried before being shoved in his van, and while Mina started the engine, Genya restrained him by actually tying the seat belt around him. When they drove off Andrew sighed loudly.

"That reservation was for us, you know...I was getting kind of hungry too." He said, Laura immediately felt embarrassed. She thought it was his ploy to get some alone time with her, that's why she tried to get rid of her parents for the time being.

"...oops?" She muttered meekly. Andrew laughed before standing back up.

"Well what do you want to do? It's not like we can go out or anything ." He asked. Laura didn't think he was getting at anything inappropriate, so she innocently suggested they head up to her room and play some video games.

"Sure, what do you have?" He asked.

"I've got classic Smash Bros. Brawl." Laura replied, getting Andrew to grin big time.

"Alright, just don't get mad when you lose, okay?" He asked tauntingly.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing." She retaliated. And so the two entered Laura's room, talking smack on the way there. Andrew immediately noticed that her room was filled with games and cords he could easily trip over.

"geez, clean your room..." He laughed, getting a punch in the arm as a reward.

"Like yours is any better? Amy showed it to me, I think mine's better!" Laura replied.

"No, yours is just bigger, there's a difference. Anyway, you got a classic controller anywhere I could use?" Andrew asked, then smiled when Laura tossed him exactly what he was asking for. The two eventually started playing, Andrew using Marth while Laura picked princess Zelda. The game was one sided, but the side that was winning kept flipping from one to the other.

"Why do you keep using the same move? Stop zapping me, already!" Andrew groaned as Marth flew off screen from another fireball attack.

"It's not my fault you can't dodge right! So...how many of your lives have I taken so far?" Laura taunted. Andrew muttered something under his breath, then begged for a rematch after the first round. Same characters, same stage. Laura wondered how things would be any different, so she gave in and got ready to deliver another beat down.

"W-wait! How did you do that? No fair!" Laura shouted as she was flown off stage.

"Marth is one of the more versatile characters in the game, it's not my fault you don't know his tricks!" Andrew replied as he taunted in game. Laura glared at him while he laughed, then she got a brilliant idea.

"Try countering now!" She joked as she yanked the cord out of the game system.

"Hey, what's with the cheating? Sore loser!" Andrew shouted as he tried to plug his controller back in. While he was doing this, Zelda was having fun curb-stomping Marth on the castle grounds in game, with Laura cracking up as she did it. Suddenly, Marth got back up and started swinging his weapon wildly, signaling that Andrew got his controller back on. He plopped down next to Laura on the bed before trying a trick of his own.

"Stop pressing those! Use your own!" She shouted as Andrew used a his free hand to button mash Laura's controller for about two seconds before returning back to his own device. This resulted in Zelda jumping off of the cliff, Laura tried teleporting her back up but just came up short. She winced at the sight of her final life being lost followed by Marth's victory fanfare, she then looked at Andrew, who had a smug look on his face.

"You cheated..." She mumbled, not letting up her glare.

"So did you! Several times!" Andrew retaliated loudly with a look of shock on his face.

"Like when?" Laura asked, whining a little.

"For one you pulled out my cord, then out of nowhere, you sneezed in my face!" Andrew complained. Laura laughed at him, she DID sneeze on him during the fight, which literally caused him to freeze up with a 'what the hell?' look on his face. This resulted in him losing a life while he wiped his face with his shirt.

"I said 'excuse me.'" She replied, trying to be cute about it.

"Whatever, you're just lucky I was holding back." Andrew taunted, getting Laura to laugh even louder.

"Yeah right, you were playing like your life depended on it!" She added to her fits of laughter.

"Next you're gonna tell me that you weren't too busy looking over at me to pay attention, right?" Laura asked mockingly. Andrew put a stupid look on his face before turning away.

"...Not my fault, you're the one walking around in a cute little outfit like that." He countered weakly.

"Aw...looks like someone missed little old me!" She continued, poking Andrew's arm annoyingly.

"Shut it..." He muttered, trying not to laugh.

"C'mon! Admit it!" Laura said cheerfully, wrapping her arms around Andrew from behind. Andrew smiled when he saw that she was still wearing the crimson stone bracelet he gave her. It's purpose had been fulfilled, but it was still a nice piece of jewelry, he concluded.

"And if I don't?" Andrew asked tauntingly.

"Then...this!" Laura shouted before placing Andrew in a headlock...sleeper hold...thing. Which, by the way, wasn't very effective.

"Please, you call that a hold?" Andrew asked before standing up, Laura still wrapped around him. In a few quick and fluid movements Laura found herself standing in front of Andrew with one of his arms around her neck and the other holding her arm. She blushed a little, wondering how she was overcome so easily.

"You just tried to put a hold on someone who's been studying MMA before it became popular. Did you think that would work?" He taunted. Laura, not wanting to be beaten so easily, elbowed Andrew with her free hand.

"Ouch! Stomach!" He groaned before falling back on the bed.

"Gotcha!" She yelled before jumping on Andrew, holding his arms down.

"Why you little!" Andrew said with annoyance in his voice. Remembering that Laura was literally a lightweight, he shifted his body weight ever so slightly. Laura ended up falling and Andrew took that opportunity to pin her arms to the bed, with him over her in a rather...provocative position.

"Tch! How do you like that?" He said smugly, but was a little taken aback when his captive blushed again.

"I could actually get used to this..." Laura said sweetly, winking at Andrew. Andrew, not exactly sure as to what just happened, ran over the overview in his head.

'Okay, so me and Laura were talking trash on each others gaming skills, then she started hinting at how much I really care about her. So I turn away, then she puts me in this weak ass headlock, I counter. We play fight for a bit, then I somehow, end up on top of her when she's wearing a cute blouse and a short skirt. And she's blushing...' He thought to himself. Laura, while Andrew was in his private thoughts, got a little annoyed and bored. So she thought to take the first move by leaning up and kissing him.

"You can stop thinking about it now. Geez, someone would think you were nervous or something!" Laura joked, but in reality, she was the nervous one. If things went in the direction she thought they were going, she'd have her first time.

"Er, I'm not nervous!" Andrew replied, finally snapping back into it.

"Then why am I still pinned down? I mean...this sort of thing loses it's charm after a while." She replied, putting on a cute face. Andrew sighed before brushing some of the hair from her face.

"Hope this doesn't lose it's charm..." He said quietly before kissing Laura, and after a few more seconds, the two were making out. It wasn't long before they got a bit more frisky. Andrew slid his hand under Laura's skirt while she lifted up his shirt and felt him up.

"Mina, get your frying pan. I'll get my sword." A voice suddenly rang out, a very angry voice.

'Oh...shit...we're screwed' The two thought simultaneously as the looked towards the bedroom doorway. Soma Cruz, with his face blood red, was glaring at both of them. It was a pretty bad scene for him to catch them in. His daughter, under a guy, with both of them taking each others clothes off while making out, in her bed.

"I'll call the ambulance." Genya sighed from behind Soma, not even attempting to help his adoptive son.

"W-when did you get in, daddy?" Laura asked nervously.

"About 5 minutes ago, I heard some noises I didn't like. So what was about to lose it's charm? Laura? New punching bag?" Soma asked the two, his voice so calm yet his face so angry. It was the scariest thing either had ever seen, it didn't take long before the two began to make up B.S. Excuses.

"W-we were just playing!" Laura shouted.

"S-she took my wallet! I-I was just getting it back!" Andrew pleaded, though Soma wasn't buying it, for the two were still wrapped around each other.

"Ah shaddup!" Soma said loudly before Mina returned with their weapons. Genya sat downstairs sipping on some coffee when he heard screaming and crying coming from two very embarrassed young adults.

"Ahh! I'm SORRY! Please put the sword down!" Andrew shouted from upstairs.

"WAAAAHH! MOMMY, THAT HURTS!" Laura cried as well. Genya sighed and went back to his coffee, thankful it wasn't him this time. An hour and a few screams later, everyone was back downstairs. Andrew was holding an ice pack to his head and nursing a cut on his cheek, luckily for him, Soma was nice enough to offer a Scooby Doo band aid after beating him down. Laura, unlike everyone else, was unable to sit down. She was holding her behind, trying to fight back tears. To put it in visual terms, she was in the 'I just got a whooping' pose kids take after a close encounter with a belt or anything else that can be used for discipline that now borders on child abuse.

"I take it you two learned your lesson?" Soma asked kindly, looking at the two battered children.

"What's my name again...?" Andrew asked, holding his poor head. Soma laughed before answering.

"Good answer, what about you, Laura?" He asked. Laura was sniffling and holding her butt in a comedic fashion.

"I won't be able to sit properly for weeks...Can I borrow that ice pack?" She asked, Andrew groaned and handed it over. Laura winced as she sat down on top of it before settling into a comfortable position...well as comfortable as she could be in that state.

"That's what I like to hear, now...we'll allow you two to see each other, seeing as how you two will be working together anyway." Soma began, barely catching the twos attention.

"Of course, you two will NOT be allowed to stay in the house...or anywhere...by yourselves, got it?" Mina added, getting the two to nod vigorously. Andrew had to stop and get back to holding his head, the nodding getting to be too much for him.

"This will work, I apologize for the trouble, you two." Genya spoke up before grabbing Andrew by the shirt collar.

"You can rest easy knowing that I will reprimand Andrew severely for this action." He added before dragging Andrew out of the house, with him praying before being thrown into the car. Soma and Mina waved them goodbye, then turned back to their daughter, who was still trying to get the feeling back in her behind.

"You know your ass is grounded, right?" Soma asked. Laura winced before answering.

"Yeah...I'll go to bed now...face down, of course..." She muttered before making her way to her room. Soma went wide-eyed when he heard that.

"You mean THAT was all we had to do to get her to go to bed on time? Mina, you should use that frying pan more often!" He shouted before falling on the couch, in a fit of laughter, obviously.

"Maybe, anyway we should probably turn in too." Mina replied before yawning.

"Of course...I'm not that tired yet, maybe you can fix that?" She added, winking at Soma.

"Oh HELL YES!" Soma shouted before chasing his wife upstairs, not finding it at all ironic that they were going to do what they had just stopped their daughter was going to do.

* * *

><p>Blitz: There, it's done. Man I can finally put the little 'complete' tag on this piece. But wow...I'm kinda mean to my OCs huh? But haven't we all been there? The shit get real...real, real fast, then it get's real embarrassing real fast?<p>

Laura: I can't feel my butt...

Andrew: I can't do basic math anymore...

Soma: Don't complain, it could have been worse.

Mina: Want me to demonstrate?

Blitz: Okay...that's enough ouchie time for them.

Genya: At least they don't know what I did to him, I could have child services called on me for that kind of discipline.

Blitz: Andrew's 20, I don't think it counts anymore.

Kokoro: Ouch...that looked like it hurt.

Zephyr: Man I could watch that over and over again! Oh wait...I control time, I can!

Paranoia: I'll go in the mirror and get different angles for the DVD release!

Blitz:...God, I hope you're talking about the beat down...Anyway thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. And feel free to drop me a line whenever with comments, ideas, questions, anything that isn't a flame. Everyone! Bow for your audience!

-Everyone bows down, then Andrew passes out from head trauma-

Boneson/Mr. Caesar: Maybe we should take Master Andrew to a hospital...

Justice: Bark!


End file.
